Surviving: Resident Evil Remake
by bubbahcakes
Summary: So I just got my new GameCube in the mail. Cool, right? WRONG. Because soon after I booted it up I realized that I'd been thrown into Resident Evil, replacing Jill Valentine! Now I, Atom Fischer, must survive the entire game if I ever want to get home. Easy? Not at all. But little do I know, I'm not the only one who got stuck here.. SI, rated M for language, MALE OC, no romance.
1. Prologue

Surviving: Resident Evil Remake

Prologue

**AN: **Hey all! I'm kinda new to this whole writing thing, so please go easy on me. And any sort of constructive criticism is greatly appreciated, so please read ans review. Thank you! :)

* * *

November 23, 2013

I woke up exactly as I should have; in my bed, in my room. _Another day another nickel _I thought to myself with a silent laugh. I leaned over the edge and peeked at the bed underneath mine expecting to see an empty bed. Sure enough, it's empty. 

"Tayne must have gone to work then." I said. 

My name is Atom Fischer. I was born on February 9th, 1997, which makes me 16 years old. I have a mom and dad (yes, they're still married) and an older brother; Tayne, who is 20. My mom works as a seamstress for a casino while Tayne and dad work for a non-profit organization called the Farm Sanctuary. At the Farm Sanctuary they rescue farm animals and allow them to live their lives happily and in comfort, rather than in gestation crates and such. It's a really selfless job, and it makes me respect them even more. 

Today was supposed to be just another ordinary day in my life. Wake up, possibly take a shower, maybe get something to eat, poop off on the computer until it's either 1:00 or time to leave for school, whichever comes first. Then I'd either get started on my school work, or get home and poop off some more; depending on whether or not I had to leave before 1:00. But in the end, it would get more crazy than I could have possibly imagined. 

I realized that I'd been stuck in my head for the last 5 minutes and kicked off the covers. I dropped off the top bunk and landed neatly on the floor. 

It's at this point that something tickled my brain, almost like something urgent was trying to make itself known. But once I caught a glimpse of one of my bath towels hanging over the door this feeling was quickly replaced by an inner debate of whether or not I should shower before going to school. 

I decided that I'm not in the mood for my mom giving me a hard time about not taking a shower, so I took one. This one was abnormally quick; usually I stayed under the stream for a minimum of 30 minutes, but 5 minutes later I was out of the shower and getting dressed. Once I was done I walked out into the living room only to find it completely empty. 

Somewhere in the back of my mind I made the connection that, since it was Friday, everyone had to work today. However, this was quickly overshadowed by the urge to get on the computie and check my accounts. 

First I checked my Facebook (nothing but garbage and conspiracies,) then I checked for new videos on YouTube (The Sw1tcher had a new video out, but it was an LP for some game I'd never even heard about.) Now that I'd gotten all that out of the way it was time for the best thing on the internet. 

This was my main way of passing the time. I'd get on my junky-ass computer and read fanfics for about 2 hours at a time, go take a bathroom break, eat some food, rinse and repeat. I'd discovered it about 2 years ago (going on 3). Just having something concrete to fall back on and be able to do was a huge comfort to me, because when I get bored, I usually get depressed. 

So I went to one of my bookmarked stories only to find that the site had automatically signed out my profile. 

"Must have signed back in last Friday" I thought aloud. I signed in only to be pleasantly surprised to find that someone had PM'ed me. 

"Probably a thank you letter for one of my most recent reviews" I continued to think aloud, smiling. Sure enough, it was someone thanking me for reviewing their story. I smiled to myself; a warm feeling spreading through me. I love this community; the community of aspiring writers. Those negative assholes were very few and far in-between here. 

Just as I was gonna go back to my bookmarked list of stories I felt that tickle again. Only this time I was awake enough to not get distracted by something else. So when I thought about it I remembered: my GameCube was gonna show up today! 

Earlier in the week my old GameCube had crapped out on me. It came out of nowhere! One minute I was blasting a V-Act's face in with the fire-and-forget rocket launcher, and the next: 

"A System error has occurred." 

I'd sat there staring at the screen for several moments, mouth agape, before I finally turned off the console (cough rage quit cough.) It never worked right again after that day. 

The next day I'd gone on EBay to look for a cheap, used Game Cube in good working condition. I found one, but the description was kind of odd. 

"Whoever buys this, I recommend playing something non-violent on it first." 

Sure I found it super weird, but it was still a total steal of a bargain. So I bought it the very same day. 

That was exactly 1 week ago. Now, the package was supposed to show up today! I quickly looked at the clock (which, I realized even more quickly, was the first time I had done so today) and found that it was 11:27. A quick glance at my daily schedule confirmed that I had exactly 10 minutes to get ready and go. As soon as this registered in my mind I was on my feet and in a flurry of motion. I finished tidying up and getting my school supplies ready with three minutes to spare, which I spent frantically looking for my house key. As soon as I found it (buried under Dirty Clothes Mountain) I locked all the doors and left, starting my walk into town. 

I lived in the country, just outside of Orland, CA. You've probably never heard about it because it's a real 'small town' kind of place. Consequentially, the walk from my house to the High School usually took about an hour. _Gives me plenty of time to go over my lines, _I thought. 

I was on a home-study program called Independent Study. The system works by giving me a packet of homework once a week. I then have to complete it over the course of the week and return it the same day the following week. Today was the day of my weekly appointment. My mom would be off work by the time my class was done, so I'd get a ride home. _Thank god, _I thought, _It's freaking broiling out here._

Two years prior, my Independent Study teacher told me that I needed to take another Elective next year, or else I wouldn't have enough credits to complete it. After some deliberation I decided to go with Theater-Workshop. So I joined in my sophomore year, and have been in it ever since. 

I'd always had an affinity with acting. By the time I was five I could recite any movie from beginning to end, flawlessly. So going to Theater-Workshop was the best thing that could have possibly happened to me, for it allowed my acting prowess to grow and flourish. Plus, all the social interaction didn't exactly hurt anything. 

After emerging from my inner monologue, I noticed I was already half way to school. I looked at my IPod Classic's clock and found that only 20 minutes had passed. 

_Wow, _I thought to myself, _I'm making good progress. _Smiling to myself all the while, I put my IPod back in my pocket and turned on my favs list, banging my head to the heavy beat.

* * *

I arrived at the High School about 40 minutes later; just as the fourth period bell rang. I quickly ran through the halls to the Multi-Purpose room where I was met with 2 of my classmates waiting outside the doors. 

The first was Lizeth, she was playing Amy Ludwig in our upcoming play, "Stranded." The second was Caden, playing Captain Amo, AKA Amos Miller. 

"Hey Miles." Lizeth said as she spotted me. I grinned. Miles was my character, Miles Osborne to be exact. 

"Sup homies." I replied. I'm not black; I just have an odd vocabulary. 

They just laughed and continued their conversation, knowing that I wasn't going to say anything else. I'm not that good at social interaction, so I tend to avoid conversing with anyone besides my family as much as possible. 

After several minutes of waiting, the rest of the class, plus the teacher (Mr. Milhorn) showed up at the doors. Mr. Milhorn unlocked them and let us in, and we slowly trickled inside in an orderly fashion. 

Heh, yeah right. 

The instant the doors opened, me and another kid (Johnathan, I think) broke into a mad sprint across the room to the comfiest couch in the school. Of course, Johnathan won. I blame my arm muscles, for weighting me down. 

It was probably for the best that I lost anyways, because I had to get to business. Two weeks ago Mr. Milhorn made me student director, so it was my duty to keep everybody in-line and to… well… direct the play. It might sound like I'm doing all the work, but trust me. I'm not. Milhorn is the one who comes up with all of the new ideas. I'm just the enforcer. 

"Okay then… Where did we leave off? Does anybody know?" I asked, looking at my fellow classmates. 

"We left off just after the first scene" Said Quentin, who played nelson Peabody. 

"No no, we did the part with the campfire, remember," asked Kristen, who played Granny Rapid. 

"Nuh-uh! That was the day before!" Quentin retaliated. 

Quick to break up the potential argument, I cut in "Alright alright, I think we should just start from the top. All in favor?" I asked as I raised my hand. After everyone else had raised their hand, I smiled and said "Alrighty then. PLACES EVERYONE!" 

As I shouted this everyone walked backstage to start rehearsals. I just stood there for a few minutes, thinking. 

I remembered something that my mom had said to me a couple of weeks back. "I'm so glad that you're in theater class Atom. I promise you, it will save your life one day." I'd looked at her with an odd expression, smiled, and walked away. Don't get me wrong, I believed her. But how the hell could acting save someone's life? 

After someone called my name, I snapped back into reality and followed the rest of the class backstage. 

An hour later 

After an hour of rehearsing without our scripts the bell finally rang. I walked outside and found my mom's car parked out front. I opened the door and climbed in. 

"Heyo." I said to my momma as she pulled out of the parking lot. "Hi! How'd class go?" She replied. "It went well. We're gonna rehearse without our playbooks from now on. So I think we're gonna ace it." "Oh! I'm so excited; I can't wait to see it!" She giggled. "Only 2 more weeks." I replied, grinning. 

Opening night is on December 8th. I wasn't that nervous since I had 2 plays worth of experience under my belt. It's the others I'm not too sure about. Most of them are pretty good, but there were still others who hadn't quite gotten their lines down yet and were more likely to blow the play for the rest of us. 

"It doesn't matter," I thought, "I'll be right there to help them through any slip ups." 

"Hey Atom~," mom said in a singsong voice, grinning from ear to ear. 

I knew my mom too well, so I instantly knew what she was going to say. 

"Did my package show up?!" I asked eagerly. 

Mom looked over at me and laughed, nodding. "Jeez Atom, you know me too well." 

"YES!" I exclaimed, pumping his fist. Finally! I'd been waiting for it for 2 weeks and it was finally here! 

"Could you speed so we can get home quicker," I asked her with my best shit-eating-grin. 

She playfully slapped my knee, both of us laughing all the while. 

At home 

The instant the car was in the driveway I was out and running to the door. 

"Atom," mom yelled, "What did I tell you about getting out of the car when it's still moving?!" 

I rolled my eyes and called back "Oh yeah, not to do it. Now can you please unlock the door? I forgot my house key." 

Mom finally unlocked the front door, at which point I bolted inside, snatched the box off the table and ran into my room. I got the Balisong knife I'd bought in Virginia City off the dresser and used it to cut the tape off the sides of the box. After absentmindedly putting the knife in my front pocket (thinking back on it, thank god I did that) I quickly ripped the flaps on the cardboard box open (anyone know what those are called?) and lo and behold, my new GameCube was sitting neatly inside a mess of Styrofoam pellets and bubble wrap. 

I carefully reached in and lifted out the wrapped Game box, cradling it as I would a newborn. I slowly pulled off all of the bubble wrap, at which point my jaw hit the floor. 

"What fuckin planet is this from?!" I shouted aloud. 

"What?!" mom called back. 

"My new GameCube," I yelled back "It's hella weird looking!" 

'Hella weird looking' was an understatement. 

For starters; on the top, where there are usually three buttons, instead there was just a rectangular slit smack dab in the center of it. _Is that a thumbprint scanner? _I thought silently. 

Also, there was only one cable port in the back; the one for the TV cable. _How the hell am I supposed to power it? _I thought. 

And finally, it was completely pitch black with no logos, stickers, or anything to show what it was or that it was made by Nintendo. 

It was at this point that mom walked in and saw the GameCube. 

"Whoa. You're right Atom, it is weird looking. What's that slit on the top?" She asked. 

"I don't know," I replied "it looks like a thumbprint scanner." 

I sat there for a few seconds, staring at the monstrosity on my lap before I finally blew a gasket. 

"God damnit," I cried "This wasn't the one in the picture! They tricked me!" 

"Alright that's enough swearing. I don't care if you got scammed; you still only have a maximum of 1 cuss word around me." 

I rolled my eyes, grinning all the while. That was the thing about mom; she always knew what to say to cheer me up. 

I sat there thinking for a couple of seconds before I came to the decision that _I'll call the guy in the morning and demand a refund. _Then I sat against the wall, bummed. 

I must have had a sad look on my face because mom sat down next to my and hugged me, comforting me. "I'm sorry that your GameCube was scammy Atom. Don't worry though; we'll get it taken care of tomorrow. In the meantime, why don't you try it out?" She gestured to the GameCube as she said the last part. 

"How? It doesn't have a power cable port." I replied, eyebrow cocked. 

"Maybe this was an alternate model or something; one that gets its power through the tv cables." She answered. 

My eyes widened and I looked up at her. "You know what? I'll bet that's it! Maybe it wasn't a scam. Awesome! Ok I'm gonna set it up now!" I said quickly, hands in a flurry as I hooked up the console to my TV. 

Mom laughed at my spastic behavior and walked out of my room to who knows where. 

Once I got the cables hooked up I brought my head down to look more closely at the GameCube. Being closer I noticed a small message etched into it. 

_Insert the disc, and then hold your thumb on the slit._

I cocked my eyebrow confusedly. _What the hell? _I thought. _This must be from the previous owner. Is this how you're supposed to use it? Why isn't there some sort of official instruction manual? Hell, why'd he have to etch it into it? Why couldn't he have just attached a note? It's almost like he expects this thing to have multiple different owners. What could be so bad about it that would make me not want it?_

This mystery aside, there was one more thing I was confused about. 

_How the hell am I supposed to open it?_

Almost as if it had heard me, the tray popped open to reveal the standard disc drive of a GameCube; no abnormalities about it. 

I stared at it for a couple of seconds; freaked out. _Okaaay, that was spooky._

After a few seconds of deliberation I came to the conclusion that it simply must have been a coincidence. It was the only explanation for it. _Unless…_ _NO! No. There's no way the console read my mind. That's just crazy Atom. Get a grip here!_

With a sigh, I leaned down and grabbed my sleeve full of games. This was the most important decision in my life; what will the first game on my new GameCube be?

…Okay, so it's not that important. But it's important to me, damnit!

Anyways, so I browsed through my huge collection, murmuring to myself as I did so. 

"F-Zero GX, nah. Midway Arcade Treasures 2, nah. OH YEAH! I was playing Resident Evil when my old GameCube broke. I should continue my game." 

I vaguely remembered the description on the EBay page. "Whoever buys this, I recommend playing something non-violent on it first." I wondered if I should heed their advice for a few moments, but then thought better of it. _I ain't gonna play a poo baby game for my first one just because of some geezer's paranoia. Besides,_ what's_ the worst that could happen?_ I thought as I put the disc in, closed the tray and rested my thumb on the slit.

If I'd known what would happen next, I would have taken the geezer's advice.

The instant I put my thumb on the slit my whole body exploded into agony! It felt like all my bones were being ripped out of my body and shoved back into place, over and over! Every moment was agony; it hurt just to think! Then, everything was, simply, _nothing._ No sounds, no sight, no feelings, no nothing. _As soon as I wake up, _I thought _I'm gonna sue the HELL out of that fucking guy!_

Little did I know, I wouldn't be in my bedroom when I woke up. Nor my house, or even my world. No sir, when I woke up, I would be in a different world entirely, about to start the craziest adventure of my life.


	2. Chapter 1: Staging Area

Surviving: Resident Evil Remake

**AN:** Hey all! Welcome to the second installment to my first story ever! If you're reading this, thanks for your continued support, and please read and review. Thanks!

By the way, since I forgot it last chapter:

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own Resident Evil, or Doom, or any other pop cultural piece I may refer to in this story. Frankly, I don't see the point in these things, seeing as we're not making any money off these stories.

Chapter 1: Staging Area

_Ughhh… My head. What the hell did I do last night? _

Those were my first thoughts as my mind began to stir awake. The first thing I began to notice was the unforgiving pounding in my head. It felt like that crazy bitch from misery was pounding my head in with her fucked up sledgehammer.

_I swear to god, if I drank last night I'm gonna kick my own ass. _In case you didn't notice, I despise alcohol.

The second thing I noticed was that all my senses were dulled for whatever reason. Try as I might, I couldn't get my sight or hearing to come back.

The third thing I noticed was that I couldn't get the rest of my body to work either. It's like everything below my neck is gone! At least, that's what it feels like! No matter how hard I try, I can't move anything except my head. _What the F is going on?!_

The fourth thing I noticed was a constant vibrating thrum reverberating through my entire body. _What is that? It feels like I'm sitting on a washing machine. Wait a minute… It sounds like a helicopter! _

You know when you can hear a helicopter approaching? And you feel the blades cutting through the air from a mile away? That's what I was feeling.

It was around this time my senses started coming back to me. The first was sound. As it turns out, the reverberating feeling was a helicopter. It was just a little… closer than I thought.

_AGH GOD! LOUDNESS! What the fuck man?! Where is that coming from?! _I tried to clamp my hands on my ears. But obviously I failed, because I still couldn't feel my torso.

That 'loudness' I'm referring to is, of course, the ridiculously loud sound of helicopter blades, seemingly coming from all around me.

Then my body started existing again. And BOY was I sore. My body was burning, like I'd just got done doing an intense full-body workout. It felt like I'd run the Red Run all over again*!

Then a weird feeling took hold of my stomach. It was like I was… Flying? Yeah, it was the feeling you get when you go down the ramp on a roller coaster. It felt like I was sitting on a plane, going a hundred miles an hour. 

It was at this point my vision finally returned to me. And boy was I shocked. 

When my vision came back it took me a couple of seconds to decipher what I was seeing, but I immediately knew it wasn't right. The first thing I noticed was that I _obviously_ wasn't in my bed, or in my room, or even in my house. I looked around the space I was in. Everything was metal, except for the canvas and material. Everywhere I looked, metal, metal, and more metal. _What the fuck is this?! Am I in a deathtrap from SAW?! Is this space gonna fill up with steam or acid or something?! _

Just before I went into a full-blown panic attack I remembered a memory from when I was in pre-school. A helicopter landed on the fairgrounds the school was in, and the pilot let the whole class see inside it. The more I thought about it the more I began to realize: This looked EXACTLY like the inside of that chopper; I was in a helicopter.

_Why the fuck am I in a helicopter?! Did someone kidnap me? Did someone drug me?! Oh god, is this like my play? Where they put people on a deserted island for a game show?! _I looked out the window to make sure we weren't flying over the ocean. To my relief, there was no water in sight, only forest.

_ Wait, why am I RELIEVED about that?! It makes no difference! I'm still in a chopper flying over a massive forest with no idea how I got here! Wait… Maybe if I remember the last thing I did before I fell asleep, it'll give me a clue! _With this thought in mind, I began trying to remember what happened. _Okay, let's see… I went to school, got home; I remember snatching something off the table… OH YEAH! My new GameCube! I remember it being a really weird model or something like that, and I tested it out… Oh my god. _

It was here that I remembered what happened when I put my thumb on the slit. My body exploded into the most potent of agony I could have possible imagined, and then some. _Well, now I know why I'm so sore. Okay, so I got a weird GameCube, tried it out, it shocked me, or something, and then I woke up in a chopper flying over a humungous forest. What sense does this make? NONE. _

So I went back to thinking, and realized there was still one more clue: _What was my first game going to be again? It starts with an R…. OH YEAH. Resident Ev… Wait. _

The pieces started to fall in place.

I got a strange GameCube. I tested it out with Resident Evil Remake. It put me through the worst pain of my life. I passed out. The next thing I know I'm in a helicopter flying over a massive forest. Sound familiar?

_Oh god. Oh Jesus. Oh fuck. No. nononono. There's no way. THERE'S NO FUCKING WAY! THERE ISN'T! There's NO WAY I JUST GOT THROWN INTO THE SCARIEST GAME OF ALL TIME! _As I was thinking this I began to feel my nose itch. When I went to scratch it, rather than my bare flesh, I saw a fingerless glove. It kinda looked like the ones the terrorists wore on Counter-Strike Source. I followed my arm down to my shoulder where I saw the end of a long-sleeved camo uniform and a hauntingly familiar logo. 

S.T.a.R.S.: Special Tactics and Rescue Service. 

That settles it. I'm in Resident Evil Remake. 

_Don't panic Atom. Don't do it. It'll just make things worse. Don't panic. Don't panic. DON'T FUCKING PANIC. _

"Hey, you alright?"

It was then that a male voice cut into my thoughts. With everything that I'd been thinking about I hadn't even noticed that I wasn't alone in here. With a shuddering gasp I slowly opened my eyes and looked at the seat adjacent to mine.

In it sat a man. But this was no ordinary man. Right there, in the seat in front of mine, clear as day, no question, no doubt about it, sat the Point Man of Alpha Team. Weighing 177 pounds at 5'11, former Air Force pilot, and the best zombie killer since Leon Kennedy. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you: 

Chris Redfield. 

There's no mistaking it. There he was, sitting right in front of me. The man I thought, up until about 5 seconds ago, didn't exist. I couldn't believe it. It's just not possible! There's no way I was sitting in front of THE Chris Redfield, in a S.T.a.R.S. uniform, in a helicopter, flying over what seemed to be Raccoon forest.

And yet, I knew, this is real. This is no dream; this is really happening to me. I don't know how it's possible, but it's happening. And the sooner I come to terms with that, the better.

"Hey, I asked you if you're alright. Are you?" Chris asked.

It was then that I remembered he had asked me a question.

"Umm… uhh…" _Come on Atom, think! Think of a legitimate excuse! _Then my eyes lit up, but only for a moment. My face shifted to one of queasiness before anyone could notice.

I took a shuddering gasp of air and began my façade. "Umm… Yeah, yeah I think so. I'm just feeling a little nauseous."

The man sitting next to him, whom I hadn't even noticed was there, spoke in a teasing tone, "See Atom, what'd I tell you? If you fall asleep in a helicopter, you're gonna have a bad time." The man, who my brain quickly recognized as Josef Frost, sat back with a shit-eating grin on his face.

"Leave him alone Joe," Chris reprimanded Josef, before turning back to me; "You're not going to throw up are you?" He asked.

Taking some deep breaths for show, I responded "Nah, I think I'm good. Thanks though."

"No problem." He responded, nodding.

_Phew, that was a close one. I guess mom's right; acting class did pay off. _

I sat back and pretended to get my breathing under control, before surveying the rest of the passengers.

As I mentioned earlier, Chris and Josef were in the seats in front of mine. If the S.T.a.R.S. are still intact, that means the events of Resident Evil 1 haven't taken place yet. _I wonder when it's gonna happen, _I thought, _Maybe that's where we're heading right now. I can only hope; I hope I didn't get here like 2 years before the first game. THAT would suck. _

My eyes locked on Josef's; the image of him getting torn apart on his shoulder camera flashing through my mind. _Poor guy, _I thought, _I wish I could warn him about his imminent death. _My eyes widened.

_Wait a minute, _I thought, _I could! I could save Josef's life! And Richard Aiken's! If I play my cards right, I might be able to change the Resident Evil Universe for the better! I just need a plan…_

My musings were interrupted by a voice to my right.

"Okay everyone," said an eerily familiar voice, "we're entering the area of the Bravo helicopter's last transmission. Open the doors, turn on the spotlights, and start searching."

My eyes were the size of saucers. I slowly turned my head, and laid eyes on one of the most fucked-up villains I've ever seen. 

Albert Wesker, captain of Alpha Team. 

He looked just like he did in the game. Every detail was exactly was the same, sans video game graphics. As he looked around, presumably to make sure his orders were being carried out, I felt his gaze land on me from behind those hardcore shades. I felt a shudder go down my spine. Here he was, the man who tries to end all life on earth in the future, standing right in front of me. The mere thought was terrifying.

My thoughts then turned to what he said: "Bravo Helicopter's last transmission." Bravo helicopter? That answers my previous question. The game must be just about to start.

"Atom, what's wrong?" Asked yet another familiar voice.

I looked up at the form to Wesker's right. There, staring back at me was Barry Burton. 

Must. Withhold. Geek-Out. 

Barry Burton is my favorite Resident Evil character of all time. I don't know what it is about him. Maybe it's his back story, maybe it's his underrated awesomeness. But the first time I played this game he quickly grew on me. From then on he was, and is, my favorite character.

You have no idea how hard it is to withhold my urge to flip-out right now.

"Hello," Barry said, drawing out the 'o' and waving his hand in front of my face, "what's gotten into you? You've been acting odd ever since you woke up."

_Oh shit Atom, come up with something again! THINK! _

"Huh? Oh. Nothing Barry, I'm fine. It's just that I thought I saw a spider on your face just now."

He cocked his eyebrow at me, almost as if he saw through my lie. My heart picked up its pace. I was sure I was finished, but then he told me "I didn't feel anything. Now come on, we've gotta open the hatches."

Nodding, I quickly stood up and followed him to the rest of the team. _Well, that accounts for all the members of Alpha Team, _I thought. _Wait a minute… Aren't we missing one? _

This thought in mind, I went through all the S.T.a.R.S. members I've seen.

_Let's see… I've saw Chris Redfield, then Josef Frost, then Wesker, then Barry Burton, and obviously Brad Vickers is flying the chopper… So that leaves…oh. _

It was then I realized who was missing. 

_Jill Valentine._

_ What the hell? Why isn't she here?! She's one of the two protagonists of the first game! How is she not here?! _

After a couple of seconds of puzzling over this dilemma my eyes widened. 

_Unless… I am Jill._

_ Oh my god, it makes perfect sense! For some reason or another I've replaced Jill Valentine in the first Resident Evil game! But why? Why couldn't whatever's doing this to me have just added me in without having me replace Jill? _I thought as I helped open the hatches.

Or, at least, tried to.

I had no idea what I was doing, so I just made it look like I was helping when really, everyone else was doing all the work. In a matter of seconds we (they) got the doors open and the spotlights on, immediately scanning the trees in search of the fallen Bravo Team's chopper. It was at this point I looked down at my uniform. And I quickly realized what it was.

_Oh my god, _I thought, _this is Piers' outfit! But he doesn't come into play until the 6__th__ game! Why am I wearing his outfit?! _This is getting pretty weird. I mean yeah, Piers' outfit is freaking bitchin', but why this one? Why couldn't I just have my own uniform or some shit like that?

Anyways, I continued to look at my ensemble, and my eyes quickly fell on something holstered on my hip.

_No fucking way, _I thought, grinning like the Joker. I had a pistol on my hip. And from what I could see, it's a good one. Any Resident Evil Remake veteran would know what this thing is. It's the standard issue S.T.a.R.S. pistol; heavily modified. Rather than having a black and wood finish, it was completely black, except for the S.T.a.R.S. logo on the side. Because I didn't want to suddenly draw my gun and rouse suspicion, I had to settle for feeling it in the holster. From what I could feel, it's got the works on it. It has the extended barrel and modified firing mechanism to allow for a three-shot firing mode, the extended magazine (which I felt in the pouch on the left side of my chest,) and the retooling; allowing it to shoot .40 S&W rounds rather than the standard 9mm Parabellum.

That's right boys and girls. I had the unlockable Barry Burton edition Samurai Edge.

I don't know why I have this one instead of the standard issue S.T.a.R.S. Samurai Edge, but I sure as hell ain't complaining. Whatever helps me survive through this nightmare is fine with me.

Feeling my back pocket revealed that my Balisong knife has somehow made the trip with me as well. For those of you who don't know, a Balisong knife is the official name for a Butterfly knife. Butterfly is merely a slang term for it. Just so you all know. _That's weird… If this managed to make its way here, how come nothing else managed to make its way here? Like my clothes? Or my Ipod? Or my… Wait a minute…_

As I thought this my hand drifted down to my right pocket. Sure enough, I felt a thin rectangular protrusion in the material of my fatigues. _Huh, my Ipod Classic made it through too… Too bad I won't have much of a chance to use it for a while. _

Anyways, back to searching for Bravo's downed chopper. I'm pretty sure that if I was playing this right now, Chris would be going through his opening monologue. Y'know, the one where he talks about the strange murder cases in raccoon forest, and how the mission turned out to be (dramatic pause) a nightmare? Yeah, that one.

Sure enough, just as I finished that thought the spotlight caught a glimpse of something metal in the very edge. As the spotlight zeroed in on the revealed wreckage of Bravo Team's chopper, I instinctively called out "Look Chris," pointing at the wreckage as I did so.

"Yeah I see it." He replied with a grim expression on his face. "Brad, get us down there!" Wesker called to the pilot (Brad Vickers,) pointing at the wreckage.

"Yes sir," Brad replied, starting our descent as he speaks.

The few minutes it takes the chopper to land gives me time to think things over. _Okay, so let's go over the things I know, _I thought to myself, _I bought a GameCube. It zapped the fuck out of me and knocked me out. When I woke up, I was on Alpha team's chopper in Resident Evil Remake surrounded by all the members of S.T.a.R.S. Alpha Team, about to find the crashed helicopter of Bravo Team and therefore kick-off the events of the game. I just found out that I'm, for whatever reason, in Piers Nivans' uniform and I am currently sporting a sweet pistol on my hip, as well as my Balisong knife. And now, we're about to land, investigate the wreckage, and shit's about to hit the fan. I'm going to try to save Josef, but I have no idea what could happen if I do…_

_I'm in some shit._

After a few minutes of gut-wrenching descent the chopper finally touched down in a clearing. The rest of the team filed out first, with me being last. I took a deep breath and stepped out of the chopper, knowing that the next time I get on it I'm going to be escaping from an underground laboratory. _If I live that long, _I thought grimly.

"Brad, stay here and secure our escape route. Don't go anywhere, understand?" Wesker asked Brad, who I knew wouldn't listen. "Yes sir." Brad said back, even though I knew he wouldn't. _Fucking pussy, _I thought.

"Chris, Barry, on me. Atom, Josef, right flank." Wesker continued to order. Luckily I'd played the campaign in Black Ops 1, so I knew what that meant. Josef and I spread out to the right, guns drawn while Chris, Barry and Wesker spread out to the left, guns also drawn. We began moving into the woods, spread out.

After a few minutes' walk, me trembling like a leaf out of anxiety the entire time, we came across the downed chopper of our compatriots, Bravo team. Josef looked over at Weske, likely awaiting further orders, so I followed suit. Don't get me wrong, I hate the guy, and it kills me to have to take orders from him. Unfortunately, in order to keep my cover, I'm just going to have to live with it. 

For now. 

Wesker pointed at me and Josef, and then pointed at the wreckage. He then pointed at himself, Chris, and Barry, then at the clearing. We got the message, and Josef and I started creeping towards the quiet wreckage.

This part always bugged me when I played this. Why in the mother of fuck does Josef get an effin assault shotgun while Jill starts out with a wee pistol? And Chris doesn't even have a gun, even though he shoots the dog away from Jill in the beginning sequence! All he has is that big fucking knife which, despite being as big as a fucking machete, is as useless as the knife in Turok, or the fist in doom! WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT ALL ABOUT?!

I'm getting off track here… Anyways, Josef and I finally arrived at the chopper doors, at which point he turned on the camera on his shoulder. I poked him in the shoulder and asked him "What's with the camera?"

He turned to me and shushed me (loudly,) jerking his thumb towards the chopper. I understood. He's saying that there could be hostiles in there, and we could have just alerted them to our presence. _Great, _I thought sarcastically, _that's reassuring. _

Josef turned back towards the door, unslinging his shotgun (with me looking on jealously) and kicking the door, doing a breach and clear. I followed close behind, scanning the chopper I already knew was clear. "Clear!" I called out anyways.

The next thing I knew Josef had run out of the chopper; obviously panicking. I could faintly hear the conversation going on outside.

"Josef, report," ordered Wesker; obviously on high alert from Josef's panic attack.

"Sir, I found Kevin. He's definitely dead. Torn up by something; looked like wounds from an animal's claws." Replied Josef, unnerved.

There was a pause. My guess was that Wesker was putting up a troubled front, when really he was intrigued at the results from the 'specimens.' I shuddered. The man was insane; I couldn't wait to see him get impaled.

Finally, after a long pause, Wesker spoke. "All right team, spread out. Let's look around the area for any survivors. Comb the area for 15 minutes then meet back here; we'll decide what to do then." Once he was done speaking I could hear fading footsteps; presumably the ones of my teammates carrying out their corrupt leader's orders.

As I listened to the now faint footsteps I realized that it's high time I got out there and started searching too. At first I was just gonna walk out without looking at what laid in the pilot's seat, seeing as I already knew. But then I realized that if I'm gonna survive the night with my sanity intact, I'm going to have to get used to things like this. So, bracing myself before hand, I leaned into the cockpit and looked at the pilot's seat. 

Farck. 

Even if I had braced myself for 2 hours prior, it wouldn't have helped. NOTHING could have helped me prepare for the mangled corpse that used to be Kevin Dooley. Just like the game, one of his eyes were gone; clawed out of his face. There were huge chunks torn out of the rest of his body; most of his limbs were gone. I remember reading in the wiki that it wasn't certain what had killed him. It was either a Hunter, or a Cerberus. Although, a Hunter had massive claws; looking at Kevin face I can see the claw marks on his eyes were the scratches of something much smaller; like a dog's paw. Yep, this was definitely the work of a Cerberus. Of course, I wasn't supposed to know this, so I couldn't share it. I could, however, share what I've seen.

Bearing this in mind I walked out of the chopper intending on telling Josef my deductions, so I looked over at where he was standing, lowering his shotgun and letting out a faint chuckle to himself. 

Oh FUCKS. 

"JOSEF, GET DOWN!" I screamed at him, trying to get him to duck under the Cerberus that I knew would jump at his throat any moment now.

Sure enough, just as Josef turned towards me incredulously, one of those fucking zombie dogs jumped out from the shrubbery, latching onto Josef's face and dragging him down to the ground, where he immediately began to scream in pain and terror.

As soon as he was down on the ground the rest of the pack followed suit, biting and tearing Josef's flesh. His screams reached a more agonizing point. "GET THEM OFF," he cried in between pain-filled yells. As soon as the first one had latched onto Josef my gun was in my hand for the first time. _No time to admire it now, _I thought. I immediately brought the weapon to chest level and opened fire. 

_Chik chik chik_

That was the sound of me forgetting to load my gun before I exited our chopper. It was also the sound of my complete and utter idiocy. Of course, being as shocked at the unfolding scene as I was, I didn't even notice my gun was dry. I just stood there, mouth agape, staring at the scene unfolding in front of me, horrified; firing my empty gun all the while.

Of course, the entire time I had been shooting nonexistent bullets Josef had continued to get mauled by the Cerberi, yelling in agony all the while. It felt horrible; the feeling you get when you could have saved someone's life but you were too chicken-shit to help. After a couple of seconds of watching this horrible scene unfold Josef's screams finally started dying down, solidifying his death. I squeezed my eyes shut, tears trickling down my cheeks. _Oh dear lord, _I thought, _I tried to help him. And I failed. FUCKING CHRIST that was ten times worse in real life! _I kept trying to keep myself occupied with my thoughts, to block out the ever-increasing sounds of tearing flesh and breaking bones.

I then got that hair-raising feeling one usually gets when there's someone staring at them. I slowly opened my eyes and looked up, only to freeze in fear.

One of the dogs had just looked up from their midnight snack, blood dripping from their decayed maw. It looked at me like a fox would look at a rabbit; like I was its next meal.

_Oh god, _I thought, _I'm gonna die. I'm going to get my just desserts for not trying harder to save Josef. This entire fucking pack is gonna rip me limb from limb. _

It was at this point that the zombified dog started running at me, teeth bared. I shut my eyes tightly, stumbling back on my ass and waiting for its jaws to sink into my throat and end me.

Then a gunshot rang in my ears and reverberated through my entire skull. I practically ripped my eyes open to find the dog laying a few feet to my right; dead.

"Come on!" Shouted who I now realize is Chris, grabbing my arm and pulling me to my feet. The feeling of my arm being practically yanked out of its socket snapped me out of my trance; at which point my legs started carrying me after Chris.

_Oh fuck, it's on. Holy shit. I just watched a man get torn to pieces and devoured by a pack of zombified dogs, and then I almost got my throat torn out. Fack. This blows. _

"Where do we go," I yelled.

"Back to the chopper! We'll regroup with Brad, Wesker and Barry. Then we'll dust-off," He yelled back.

But as we ran, the chopper, being piloted by Brad, flew over our heads.

"Wait! BRAD! Where the hell's he going?!" Shouted Chris.

Realizing that unless he did something we'd all become dinner; Chris turned around and braced for impact, knowing that his death would ensure our getaway.

Even though I knew what was coming next, this still terrified me; knowing that my partner was about to sacrifice his life to buy me some time.

A pistol shot split the air. The dog flew off course; dead.

We looked over at where the gunshot came from and saw Wesker, gun in hand. Barry stood a few feet away.

"This way everyone, "He shouted.

We ran past him as fast as we could, him covering us all the while. When he saw that everyone was clear he followed suit, hot on our heels.

Every once in a while as we ran someone would turn around and squeeze a few shots off before turning back around and continuing their dead sprint. _Good a time as any, _I thought as I pulled a pistol mag out of my breast pouch, being careful not to drop it. I quickly lined it up with the grip of my Samurai Edge and slid it home; a triumphant _click_ sounding as the slide automatically locked in place.

_Safety's off? _I thought as I checked, _yep. Alright, I'm ready to rock and roll… But not yet. There's no point in wasting my ammo now; I'm gonna need all I can get pretty soon here. _

"Into that mansion," Chris yelled, cutting through my thoughts. Hearing this, I looked up and saw it for the first time. 

The god-forsaken Spencer Estate. 

My eyes widened to their maximum, my heart skipped a beat, and goose bumps erupted all over my arms. This was the setting of one of my favorite games of all time; the scariest game I've ever played, and I'm running right for it. The mere thought was enough to terrify me.

Just barely one step ahead of the dogs, Wesker opened the door, allowing us to run in after him. Since I was the last one in I turned around and slammed the door shut. Just in time too; one of the dogs slammed into the door just as I threw my weight against it. I kept my shoulder against the door while the dogs continued to scratch, claw, and bite at the door, trying in vain to get through. Finally, after about 20 seconds of punishment the door got a break, as the dogs decided their potential prey had gotten away. I could hear them running back into the woods from my side, barking out their anger all the while. _Probably going back to polish off the rest of Josef, _I thought with a dark sneer. I slowly turned around to face the Main Hall, sliding down the door and panting like I never have before as I did so. I gazed upon the Main Hall of the mansion for the first time.

It's exactly like it was in the game. Side tables topped with expensive looking ceramic pots lay against the walls. A staircase lay directly in front of me, leading up to the second floor balcony. To the left and right of the staircase there were two hallways, which I knew led to the Trevor Family Tomb. Two doors were on the right side of the room. The one closest to us led to the art room led to the art room and the furthest one led to the room with the massive telescope (I don't know what it's really called.) On the left side of the room there was only one door, which I knew led to the massive dining room.

Done with my observations, I continued to catch my breath. As I hyperventilated I could have swore I heard a voice whisper in my ear. One that sent chills down my spine. 

_Enter the Survival Horror_

***AN:** The Red Run is a marathon that is, and I quote, "The most authentic zombie run on the planet." Instead of merely running all the way to the end, you have to run from zombies. It's pretty sick, and I went to the very first one just this year. The proceeds go to Cystic Fibrosis research, so please! If you have the time, please participate! Thanks for reading, please Read and Review. Thanks! That is all.

P.S.: I might have made some mistakes in here; I am merely a novice, after all. So please; if you manage to catch any, don't be afraid to let me know. As long as it's in a non-flaming way, of course. :D Thanks!


	3. Chapter 2: Alone

Surviving: Resident Evil Remake

**AN: **What's happenin guys? I'm sorry it took me this long to get this out; I had a super serious camping trip to attend! By the way, I probably won't have much of a routine when it comes to posting chapters, I'll probably just post them whenever I finish them. Also, I have good news: I got my first ever review! It's from an author, username: Yurei Hanatsuki. I've actually read some of his stories before he reviewed mine, so he's definitely a legit writer. So yeah, big shout out to him, please check out his stories, don't forget to read and review! Thanks to everyone who might be following this story, peace!

_Italics: _my thoughts

"Quotes": speaking aloud

**Bold:** Author's note

Chapter 2: Alone.

As I sat there, leaning up against the massive front door, I realized something.

_I don't even know if I'm about to go through Chris' or Jill's campaign. For all I know Chris could be the one who goes through the mansion while I'm locked up in that dingy old cell down in the lab! That would be so fucking boring! Not to mention terrifying. _

As we all sat there, catching our breath, Wesker spoke.

"Is everyone okay," he asked. _Pfft, like he even cares, _I thought. _Then again, he needs us to gather the 'raw combat data against the B.O.W.s', so I guess he does care. Just not in a good way. _

Barry was the first to respond. "I am, I think."

I answered after him. "Yeah, I'm okay. Just a little winded." I said this while breathing heavily. _So, if Barry's still here does that mean that I'm gonna have to go through the campaign while Chris is locked up in the cell? There's only one way to find out. If Chris isn't here, then that definitely means that I'm currently in Jill's campaign. _

Bearing this thought in mind I looked at the rest of my teammates. I only saw two people: Barry and Wesker. Chris was nowhere in sight.

_Okay, that proves it. On the plus side, I'm not going to be locked up in a creepy underground cell for however many hours, bored out of my mind. But on the bad side, now I have to go through all the jump scares, one-shots, and overall hardships of Resident Evil Remake; in real life._

_Fuck my life. _

"What is this place," I asked in an attempt to bring the dialogue back on track.

"Not your ordinary house, that's for sure," replied Wesker. _Good, it worked. _

Then I remembered that this is where I was supposed to realize Chris is missing. I was originally going to go by the original dialogue, but I decided to spice it up with a quote from one of my favorite movies of all time.*

Looking at the remainder of my team, I asked "Hang on, are we all here?"

Barry quickly counted, "Um, 1, 2, 3, yep we're all here."

_OH MY GOD! Thanks for perfectly setting me up Barry! _

Playing the part, I looked at him with a concerned look on my face and replied "There were four of us!"

"Oh." He said, realizing what I was saying.

"Wesker, where's Chris?" I asked, finished with my play-by-play.

I ran towards the door, just like in the game. "Atom no," Wesker yelled, immediately stopping me in my tracks.

"You don't want to go out there," he continued, more calmly.

I knew what he'd done with Chris, but I knew I wasn't supposed to. So, playing the desperate part all the while, I said to Wesker "But we can't just lea-"

My 'desperate plea' was cut off by a series of gunshots, coming from somewhere behind the Dining Room door. Of course, I knew who it was already.

_Kenneth. _

This part weirded me out too. Jill, Barry and Wesker all hear only one or two 9mm shots. And yet, when you view Kenneth's tape down in the lab, he pretty much empties his entire clip of 15 shots at the zambie. Plot hole anyone?

"What was that," shouted Barry, obviously on high alert.

"Maybe it was Chris," replied Wesker.

_I refuse to sound like a worried little girl, _I thought. So, instead, I said "I don't think so. If it were Chris, he would have gotten the job done in one shot. That was closer to three or four."

"Hmm," said Wesker, deep in thought. "Atom, go and investigate that sound."

_Sure, let's split up. That's DEFINITELY the right way to survive in a horror movie._ I thought sarcastically, resisting the urge to roll my eyes.

"I'll go with him," Barry cut in, "Chris and I go way back."

"Alright, you two go investigate. I'll stay here and investigate this area a little further," Wesker ordered. _Yeah, _I thought, _you'll investigate this area further. Then you'll just vanish for the next two or three hours for no reason. Fucking prick. _

"Yes sir," I replied (begrudgingly.) I turned to Barry and told him "Lead the way."

He gave me a quick nod and ran towards the door, pulling his magnum out on the way.

Did I mention I'm super jelly of his magnum? No? Well I am. That thing is a fuckin TANK. Every shot deals the same damage as five Magnum Revolver rounds combined. That's enough power to take down Tyrant's first form in one shot. That's INSANE!

Simply put, the only weapon that's more powerful than Barry's .44 Magnum is the Fire-and-Forget Rocket Launcher. But you can't even get that in the campaign! Remember how I was saying that the only way to get Barry's Samurai Edge is to beat the game in less than five hours? Well to get the Rocket Launcher, you have to beat it in THREE HOURS. Believe me, it's hard as fossilized Brontosaurus shit. *

Anyway, I digress. I quickly followed after Barry, pulling out my Samurai Edge along the way and bringing it down to my hips (like Chris when he runs.) Barry looked over at me and saw my gun.

"So, how do you like it so far?" He asked.

I looked up at him, confused. "Huh?" I asked, stupidly.

"The gun I gave you. How is it?" He asked again, motioning towards the Samurai Edge in my hand.

_Okay, so that's why I don't have the standard issue pistol. Barry must have given me his at some point. Thanks Barry! :D_

"Well, I haven't gotten the chance to use it yet. But from what I can see, it looks like it's got some serious performance under the hood; I can't wait to shoot it for the first time. By the way, thanks again. I really appreciate it." I had no idea whether or not I had thanked him already, or if I had already shot it. So I was taking a serious gamble here.

Luckily, I seem to have hit the nails on both heads. "No problem kid. Like I said, I know a guy who's happy to custom make guns for me, so it's no trouble at all. But enough chatter. We'll do a breach-and-clear; you get the door, and I'll rush in and clear the room. Ready?"

I quickly nodded and placed my hand on the doorknob, Barry getting ready beside the door. He nodded at me, signaling he was ready. I nodded back and yanked the door open, Barry rushing through and scanning the room, gun at the ready.

I followed suit and ran in behind him, scanning the room I knew would be empty.

"Looks clear," I announced. *

LOL

We slowly relaxed once we confirmed there were no hostiles in here. Now that I'd gotten that out of the way, I took a minute to scan the room we've found ourselves in.

It was a massive rectangular dining room. There was a gigantic table in the center, surrounded by roughly 40 chairs. Obviously Mr. Spencer was prepared for a lot of guests. Off to the right of the room was the infamous grandfather clock, casting an ominous ticking sound all around the room. Right next to it was the painting of the two swordsmen. At the other side of the room was the fireplace, which lit the room with an orange and red glow. There was a door to the right of the fireplace, which I knew led to the 'Tea Room,' AKA the 'First Room'. Above us was a balcony, which I knew was the second floor.

Above the fireplace, set into the wall, was the ever mysterious Emblem.

Story time.

This game is legendary to me. I practically grew up with it. From the time I was finally allowed to play it (when I was around 6,) to just recently, this game had burned its way into my personal hall-of-fame. And for one simple reason:

Because it took me 10 years to beat. Yeah, I said that.

You see, because Tayne and I were allowed to play it at such an early age, we couldn't wrap our heads around most of the puzzles. So we'd end up getting to a hard puzzle, getting stuck, and quitting for about eight months, before we'd pick the controller back up and do it all over again.

So yeah, it took us 10 years to beat this game. And it took us about half of that time to figure out what the items in this dining room do. That means that it took Tayne and I 5 years to figure out what the Blue Gemstone, the Emblem, and the Grandfather Clock were for, which we all found within the first 30 minutes of playing for the first time. Do you have ANY IDEA how much that bugged us?

So because of that, the Emblem, the blue Gemstone, and the Grandfather Clock are some of the most infamous video game items I've ever seen. Honestly, I felt honored just to be able to see and feel these things that are so legendary to me and my brother. It gave me chills just thinking about it.

Okay, story time over.

"A Dining Room," Barry observed.

_No shit. _

I watched Barry walk over to the other end of the room and crouch next to the fireplace. _He must have found that pointless blood puddle, _I thought.

_Come to think of it, this is where you finally get to control Jill for the first time. If you had beaten the game on your previous play through in less than three hours, then a rocket launcher magically appears in Jill's hands right about now. Maybe that will happen to me! _

I eagerly holstered my pistol, held my hands out in front of me and waited patiently. I waited for about 30 seconds, but unfortunately no Rocket Launcher materialized in my hands. _Oh well, _I thought, _it was worth a try. _

I looked to the left of the Dining Table. Sure enough, there was the Typewriter on the side table. I looked on the Dining Table next to the Typewriter, and sure enough, there was a circular cartridge on the table with black print on the front:

'Ink Ribbon, For Use with Typewriter.'

I walked over and picked up the cartridge. It weighed about a half of a pound and was made entirely out of a type of metal. _Looks like aluminum, _I thought. Opening it up revealed a thin ribbon of black ink. I closed it back up. Holding the ribbon in my hand, I looked over at the Typewriter curiously.

Just the fact that the Typewriters and Ink Ribbons were still here was really weird. What's gonna happen if I use them? Will my game be saved? That's impossible. There is no game! This is real life! It's not like I can just restart from when I last typed in the freaking date on a Typewriter if I do happen to get butchered in here! It wouldn't make any sense!

Then again, none of this makes sense. Nothing of my current situation makes any sense. By all means, I shouldn't even be here. I shouldn't even be having this debate in my head! And yet, here I am. So what does it matter if I can 'save my game'? This situation is already unrealistic.

Having come to this conclusion, I decided _Better safe than sorry. Now, how do I work this thing… _

After some trial and error I finally figured out where to put the Ink Ribbon. So I put it in, locked it in place, and was ready to go. _What do I type? _I thought. _Well, I'd better go with what they type in the game. _

So I positioned my fingers over the keys. _Ha, I've never even used a typewriter before. Thank god the key layout is exactly the same as on a normal keyboard. Okay, so first… My first name. _

I typed in 'Atom.'

_Okay, then a slash, and then the number of saves I've done, including this one._

I typed in a slash, and then '01'.

_And finally, my current location. _

I typed in 'Mans. Dining".

_Okay then, that's done. Let's just hope it works. Or, better yet, that it doesn't have to. _

I shuddered.

"Hey Atom, you're gonna want to take a look at this," called Barry from by the fireplace.

_Right on time. _

I stored the remaining Ink Ribbon in one of my eight pouches. Yeah, I forgot to mention, but I have eight pouches strapped to my uniform; one on my chest, and the other seven on my belt. The Ink Ribbon is in the pouch directly to the left of my belt buckle. I also have tactical straps on my back for carrying things that are too big to be kept in a pouch. _Like an Emblem, _I thought, grinning.

I circled back around to the right side of the table and started walking to the other side of the hall. Why did I walk around to the other side, you ask? I'll tell you why.

So I could admire the ever infamous Clock, up close.

Sure enough, I came up to the Clock and gave it a closer look. It looked just like it did in the game. There was a helmet at the position of 12:00, a breastplate at the position of 6:00, a sword at 9:00, and a shield at 3:00. I already knew how to solve this puzzle, but I couldn't because the shutter on the front was firmly closed. Speaking of the shutter, I saw an inscription on it:

'When the two have run each other through, the path to your destiny will open.'

Of course, I knew exactly what it meant by that, but I'll save that for later.

With one last glance back at the Clock, I closed the distance between Barry and I and initiated the next cut scene.

"What is it? What's wrong," I asked, peering down at him.

"Check this out," He told me.

I looked over his shoulder. Sure enough, there was a puddle of blood on the ground in front of him.

"Is that…" I asked, hesitating.

"Blood," He finished. "Atom, why don't you look around some more? I'll stay here and investigate this some more." He gestured to the puddle. "Let's just hope it didn't come from Chris."

"True that." I replied. "All right then, stay safe Barry."

He just nodded distractedly, obviously absorbed in his work.

_Alright then, _I thought, _one of the scariest moments in video game history here I come!_

I hesitantly walked through the door, dreading what was coming next.

On the other side of the door I found myself in a dark, dimly lit, and overall terrifying hallway. There were a few light bulbs hanging on the walls, but they hardly provided any illumination; just barely enough to be helpful.

To my right were two doors, all on the left wall of the hallway. There was one right next to the door I just came from, and one near to the end of the hallway. At the end of the hallway there was a turn to the left. The first turn leads to the hallway that passes by the inaccessible (from this floor) elevator. There's another turn after the elevator that leads to a staircase, which leads to the basement kitchen. _And one of the scariest CG movies in the game, _I thought with an involuntary shudder_. _

To my left was an open space with a window on the side that was facing me. The blinds were mostly closed, only allowing a little bit of moonlight to trickle through. I couldn't see anything on the right side of the room; the wall of the hallway cuts my vision off. Before I could try to talk myself out of it, I quickly closed the distance between me and the open space.

I know I had to get it out of the way eventually, but holy fuck did it suck.

The first thing my eyes were drawn to was the mansion painting mounted on the right wall, and the chairs set against the wall underneath it. But my eyes were quickly drawn down to the floor by the haunting sound of tearing flesh.

There, on the ground in front of me, was a man in a brown shirt and pants combo, holding up another man in a familiar ensemble. I quickly recognized the S.T.a.R.S. Bravo Team patch on his shoulder. Both of their faces weren't visible to me. The man on the ground was twitching uncontrollably, obviously dying and in shock.

My footsteps must have alerted the sitting man because the next thing I knew, the sounds of chewing and tearing meat had stopped and the brown clothed man dropped the S.T.a.R.S. member to the ground.

His eyes were rolled up in the back of his head; twitching uncontrollably. But that wasn't the worst part. His throat was gone; ripped out of his neck completely. His neck was a mess of torn flesh and veins, and his jugulars were ripped away too.

This man-no- this _zombie _that was leaning over him had been devouring his throat. I'd just witnessed the scariest moment in Resident Evil history:

The First Zombie.

I didn't get a chance to freak out about this because as soon as the officer stopped twitching the zombie started turning its head. Its head was bald; likely a side-effect from the infection. Its skin was pitch white and cracked; its head looked like a dry dirt floor; full of cracks. Its pupils slowly turned to stare into mine. They were barely visible; matching the color of the rest of his iris. With that, he finally stood up from the bleeding corpse of who I now recognize as Kenneth.

Of course, I knew all this was going to happen; I just didn't want to spoil it for anyone who might not have played the game. You're welcome.

At this point I was absolutely terrified. Seeing Kenneth with his throat eaten wasn't as bad as watching Josef get ripped apart, but it was still pretty horrible. _I don't know how much more of this I can take, _I thought.

I was locked in place by my fear. It felt like when you're trying to force yourself to rip out a splinter. No matter how hard my mind bellowed at my legs to carry me back to Barry and the safety of his Magnum, they refused to budge an inch.

It was at this point the zombie had turned around and started to shamble towards me. I still couldn't move. Its eyes stared into mine; a hungry moan escaping its blood-soaked lips. It was less than a few feet away now; it lunged at me.

I ran.

I finally regained control of my legs. Just in time too; the zombies' fingers missed my arm by a hair's breadth. My legs carried me back to the door I came from; it was like they were on autopilot. After what seemed like an hour's run I finally reached the door and wrenched it open, stumbling through to the other side.

"BARRY," I shouted, running past him to stand behind him.

Barry stood up in surprise from my sudden entrance. "What? What is it," He asked urgently.

As he asked this I looked past him at the door I had just come through, which was now opening again.

"Look out! IT'S A MONSTER!" I bellowed in panic; not even realizing I was following the script exactly.

Sure enough, the zombie I had just narrowly avoided walked through the now open door and started shambling towards us; arms outstretched.

"Let me take care of it," Barry yelled.

He quickly took aim with his magnum and fired, clipping its shoulder. Seeing that his first shot had no effect he fired another shot, hitting it smack-dab in the chest. Bewildered that his shots had seemingly no effect he fired one last shot, hitting it in the heart again. Finally, the zombie slumped down to the ground and made a blood puddle; solidifying its death.

That was yet another one of my pet-peaves when playing this game. In the actual game, Barry's magnum is powerful enough to one-shot Tyrant in the lab. But in this cut scene, it takes three shots to kill a single zombie. That doesn't make ANY sense! But, I digress.

Barry and I both stared down at the zombie in shock. "What the fuck is this thing?" Barry wondered.

Still staring down at the decayed body at our feet, I replied "It looks like… Like a zombie."

Barry looked up at me sharply. "What?! Atom, think for a minute. That's impossible! Zombies don't exist!"

I met his gaze. "Just look at it Barry! Its skin is rotting, it didn't even flinch when you shot it, and just a few seconds ago I found it devouring Kenneth's throat! Is that not zombie-like enough for you?"

Barry's eyes widened. "Wait, did you say Kenneth? From Bravo team?"

"Yeah," I answered, "that means that the rest of Bravo Team probably found their way into this mansion too." I gestured back to the main hall, "Let's report this to Wesker."

"Good idea," Barry replied. So, with Barry following, I ran back to the other side of the room and ran through the double doors, back into the Main Hall. Only to be met with an empty room.

To put on a good show I walked to the center of the room, looking around the room with a confused and mildly concerned expression on my face. Barry was probably acting too; I wouldn't doubt that he knew Wesker was gonna disappear all along.

"Wesker," He shouted. No reply.

Barry turned to me. "Atom, go and look on the second story for him. I'll keep looking down here." He ordered. I gave him a quick nod and ran to the stairs. I took them two at a time in my haste.

I got to the top and looked around, not seeing Wesker anywhere. I knew I wouldn't, but I had to anyway. I ran across to the other side for good measure and then ran back down the stairs; once again taking them two at a time.

"Any luck," Barry asked me when I got to the bottom.

"No. I didn't find him."

"Same here," he replied.

"What the hell is happening here?! I don't understand any of this," I yelled, pretending to be frustrated.

"I have no clue," replied Barry, "But we need to keep our wits about us."

He appeared to think for a few seconds before ordering "We need to look for Wesker and Chris. We should split up; we'll cover more ground that way. You go and check that door," he gestured to the double doors across from the Dining Hall as he said this, "I'll go and investigate the Dining Room some more."

"Alright then, good luck Barry," I told him, heading towards the other door.

"Wait, hold up a second Atom," he stopped me. I turned around and walked back to him.

_Is he seriously going to give me a lock-pick? Because last time I checked, I don't have any experience with lock-picking. _

"I almost forgot. Here," he spoke, giving me an… ammo box?

"What's this," I asked, actually confused this time. I opened the top and found four extended clips for my pistol. My eyebrows raised in surprise.

"It's my personal stockpile of ammo. I forgot to give it to you when I gave you the pistol. Take it, please."

_Well, I suppose this is a lot better than a lock-pick that I wouldn't have known how to use anyways. I'd rather have 80 extra rounds any day. _Yeah, I forgot to mention that each magazine for my Samurai Edge holds 20 rounds. Unfortunately it doesn't have infinite ammo in each clip like it did in the game. Sad face.

"Wow," I said, stunned, "thanks, Barry. I just hope I don't have to use it. Well, I'll see you later, I guess."

"Yeah, same here. Take care of yourself kid."

"You too." Finishing our conversation I turned towards the door to the Art Room again.

I heard the echoing sound of Barry closing the door behind him.

_Welp, _I thought, _I've got 100 rounds for my pistol, a Balisong Knife, an Ink Ribbon with 2 uses left, and a Barry Burton Edition Samurai Edge. My first order of business is to get the Peridot Arrowhead. _

_And now, I'm all alone. _

**AN: **Aaaand done! Again, sorry for the longer-than–usual wait everyone. Thanks for reading, don't forget to read and review. Peace!

*I'll give a shout out to whoever can tell me what movies (and web series) these quotes are from. ;)


	4. Chapter 3: Two Surprises

Surviving: Resident Evil Remake

** AN: **Wazzup! Sorry for the wait, but this time I actually have a reason! My opening night was on Sunday. It was the play I described in this story; Stranded. Lol. So yeah, sorry for the wait, don't forget to review, and please enjoy!

_Italics: My Thoughts _

"Quotes:" Speaking Aloud

**Bold: **Author's Note

'Apostrophe:' Inscriptions and Writing

Chapter 3: One Pleasant Surprise, and One Not-So-Pleasant Surprise

_Now then, _I thought, _what should I do now that Barry's gone? I have two options: I can go get the map of the 1__st__ floor, but that would be kinda pointless because I know this game like the back of my eyelids. Or I can skip straight to the Arrowhead. Hmm…. Well, I might as well get the map. Just in case. But I'm probably not going to get the dagger in the back room…_

Having made my decision, I walked up to the door across from the Dining Room door. _Okay, here we go…_ I thought, trying to quash my fear. I slowly reached for the door handle, paranoid out of my mind. I was afraid that something would jump out at me the instant I opened it, even though I knew that never happens in the game. Trust me; this game will do that to you.

My hand finally gripped the right handle. I slowly turned it, afraid that even the slightest noise would alert whatever's in there (nothing.) I slowly pushed open the door and peeked through the opened door.

A quick glance around the room revealed there were no hostiles in sight. I let out a sigh of relief and pulled the rest of my body through, closing the door behind me.

The Art Room, just like all the other rooms I've seen, looked exactly the same as it did in the Remake, just with real life graphics. There was a white light casting a dim glow around the room, and paintings covering the walls, all the way around the room. In the back right corner of the room there was a white door. There wasn't any point in trying it; I knew it required the Sword Key, which I DEFINITELY didn't have. There was a large statue of a woman carrying a pot over her head in the center of the room. It was masterfully crafted, and very beautiful. I knew the map was in the statue's pot, I just needed to be able to reach it…

In the back of the rectangular room there was a dark hallway, which I knew led to 2 things: the Closet Door, and past that was a dead end and a dagger. _I don't want to get the dagger just so I could use it 2 seconds later, and I don't have the closet key (I think,) so there's not much of a point in me going back there. _

I walked towards the statue in the middle of the room. I knew the map was there; I could see the trademark gleam. I just needed to push the shelf by the hallway over next to the statue so I could get it.

_Or… _

I had an idea that would hopefully save time. I walked back towards the door I came from and turned back towards the statue. I geared myself up, and ran at the statue.

I jumped right at the base of the statue while pushing off the base of it. The leverage made me transfer my momentum upwards, allowing me to wrap my arms around the statue's neck. But before I could reach into the pot and take the map, something rapidly became apparent.

Apparently the statue wasn't secured to the mount for some retarded reason, and now it was toppling over with me hanging on to it.

Needless to say, I panicked. I quickly let go and rolled to put distance between me and the deadly statue. I used the last of my momentum to stand up; just a LOUD shattering noise came from behind me. My heart and thoughts were going a mile a minute, so I sat down and took a second to gather my bearings.

_Okay, _I thought, _that wasn't my best idea. I'm gonna take this as a warning. From now on, I'm doing things just like in the game; mo more shortcuts. But why wasn't the statue secured? Did Spencer fire the artist before it could be secured? What were they thinking?! _

I turned back towards the statue, intending on examining the mount for any abnormalities. But what I saw shocked me.

There was a gun on the floor, in the rubble of the statue.

It was definitely an M14. Remember the M14 from the first Black Ops? Yeah, it looked exactly like that one. It even had the shoulder strap and everything! Too bad it didn't have the Acog scope and the Grip; THAT would have been the tits.

I stared at the gun for several seconds before my shock wore off. _What in the fuck?!_ I thought, _where the hell did this come from?! I'm 100% positive that the first gun you find is the shotgun, and that's not until after you get the Sword Key! So why was there a gun hidden in this statue? This gun isn't even in the game! _

I realized that I had been ranting in my head for about a full minute. I took a deep breath and walked up to the remnants of the statue. I picked up a broken piece of marble and looked at it. It was almost unnoticeable, but I could barely see that there was an M14-sized cavity in the center of the statue before it got busted.

_ Okay, recap. I tried to speed things up by climbing on the statue, it fell over and shattered, and there was a rifle hidden inside it. That never happened in the game! Why the fuck does everything keep getting changed around?! Wait… Does this mean that there was an M14 inside of the game this whole time, and the game just didn't give you a way to retrieve it from the statue? If that's the case then I think I'm gonna have to break something. _

In order to preserve my sanity, I stopped thinking about it before I answered my own question. I bent back down and picked up the M14 by the strap. It was heavy, which is typical for a weapon that shoots 7.62mm rounds. I brushed off the marble dust and slung it over my shoulder. It weighed me down a bit, but it was worth it to have a beefier weapon.

_Come to think of it, where am I gonna find ammo for this thing? 7.62mm rounds aren't even in this game. Knowing my luck, that's probably another thing that was added in. By what, I don't know. _

_ Well, I guess that's all there is to see in this room, _I thought. So I turned around and started heading towards the door.

But then I realized something. I'm going to be killing a lot of zombies tonight. The thought alone is going to take some getting used to, let alone actually doing it. So I figured I should probably fight the zombie in the back area of this room to help. I needed to practice with my guns anyways.

_Let's see, how should I go about this, _I thought, _I don't have any spare clips for my M14, whereas I have four for my pistol. So I'll use my pistol to conserve ammo for my M14. _

I kept my M14 slung over my shoulder and pulled my Samurai Edge out of its holster. I double checked to make sure it was cocked, locked, and ready to rock. Sure enough, it was ready to be fired.

I took a minute to brace myself; after all, I was about to fight my first zombie. I remembered every bit from the game, but it's already been established that things have been changed. So I had no idea what to expect in this freaky hallway. For all I knew there could be a hunter back there for fuck's sake!

I took a deep breath and walked across the room towards the creepy hallway. The suspense was killing me. This is what makes this game scary; the anticipation. Knowing what's coming just makes it worse. Because you know there's going to be a zombie somewhere around here, and you're dreading it, and it makes the whole situation ridiculously suspenseful. When I first played this, whenever I'd check a door to see if it was locked, I actually found myself hoping that it was locked so that I didn't have to go through and see what fucked up thing I had to face next!

Finally I found myself at the hallway's entrance. I could see down it, but it was still pretty dark. Keep in mind that this is real life, so there's no music. Everything was completely silent, and it drove me mad with fear. Quashing my nyctophobia down the best I could, I walked into the darkness. I wasn't scared of the dark back at home because I knew there wasn't anything to be afraid of about it.

But here, there very well could be…

I came to the first turn. Directly in front of me was the mansion painting, which I knew was secretly a door that only one person in existence knew about (besides me.)

George Trevor.

I have a theory about this scene. In the original game, the room next to the art room was the closet room; the room where you can change your outfit. But in this version, that room is right on the other side of this painting. There's a reference to this change in the other room in the form of an undated and unsigned note book that talks about the, and I quote, 'Painting of the mansion… In the back of the Art Room.' It also talks about how no one else knows about the closet room, not even Sir Spencer. So ask yourself this: Who designed and built the mansion, and therefore is the most likely to have made some sort of secret room just in case of an emergency?

If you answered George Trevor, you're right.

My theory is that George Trevor wrote that note, and that he had hid in the closet room until he ultimately died of starvation. I also think that the zombie that appears out of nowhere after you take the dagger off the bookshelf up ahead came out of the closet room.

That's right. My theory is that the first zombie you kill, canonically anyways, is George Trevor's reanimated corpse.

I turned left past the painting/door and walked to the shelving unit at the end of the hall. There was a great deal of art pieces scattered about back here. This included a sheet-covered statue, a globe, and a bust of a head.

I looked on all the shelves in search of a dagger.

Then I looked again.

And again.

And again.

But no matter how many times I looked, I couldn't see anything that looked even remotely like a dagger. I was faced with the truth:

It's not here.

For whatever reason, the dagger isn't here. There were two sides to this. On one hand, I don't get a dagger in case of an emergency. On the other hand, there's no dagger for me to pick up, therefore the zombie can't be triggered! While I was bummed that I didn't get to try out my pistol, I was happy that I got to delay my first kill a little longer.

_Well, _I thought, _there's no point in me being here anymore. I'd better get out of here. Peridot Arrowhead, here I come! _

With this thought in mind I did a quick 180 degrees turn to face the hallway again-

-And came face to face with George Trevor's zombified corpse.

"HOLY FUCK BALLS!" I yelled at the top of my lungs as George's rotting hands latched onto my shoulders. Luckily the regular zombies didn't have claws like the Crimson Heads did.

Luckily I didn't lock up in fear this time, because it would have cost me my knife. I planted my hands on its shoulders and pushed with all my might in an attempt to keep its teeth from latching onto my neck.

It quickly became a match of strength. I was having a surprisingly difficult time keeping its teeth away, considering how little of its muscles are left. I was steadily being over-powered, its teeth steadily getting closer and closer. While I ran out of stamina over time, zombies didn't have that constraint. So I was steadily losing strength while Georgie was able to go all day.

That sounded dirty…

My mind started going haywire; there must have been a million things going through my mind at that moment. In the ever-growing chaos, my mind screeched to a halt upon a single memory:

My Balisong Knife!

As soon as this thought registered in my brain my hand was making its way into my pocket. I had to use my left forearm to keep the zombie at bay while I fished around in my pocket for my knife.

There! I found it in my pants pocket. I grabbed it and all but ripped it out of my pocket. _No time to get tricky with it now, _I thought as my arm was starting to buckle under the strain.

I flipped it open with a simple flick of my wrist, raised it over my head, and thrust downwards with a fierce battle cry.

The knife pierced straight through the top of its skull, straight down into its brain. The now dead body fell down to its knees in front of me. It stayed up for a couple of seconds before falling over forwards and remaining motionless.

A blood puddle formed underneath it; it was dead.

I let out the breath I was holding in and fell back against the shelf. I was breathing heavily from both exertion and shock. That was the single most terrifying moment in my life. I usually wasn't one to get frightened by jump scares in video games, but real life was a whole other ball game. I worked hard to get my breathing and heart rate under control, and then I finally stood up.

I looked down at George Trevor's rotted corpse and shivered. _I need to stop thinking of this like a game. It almost cost me my life just now. I assumed the zombie wasn't going to spawn because the knife wasn't here to trigger it. This isn't a game, where everything needs a trigger to happen! From now on, I'm not letting my guard down for a second. There are no scripts here; anything goes! For all I know, Yawn could be waiting for me in one of the Safe Rooms! Oh god, let's hope not…._

Finally, I managed to get my heart beat and breathing under control. I remembered that the more time passes, the closer to reanimation this zombie gets. I knew that unless their head is completely gone, or if you incinerate them, then they'll eventually come back to life AGAIN as a Crimson Head. You don't want that.

I looked at my knife, still stuck in Trevor's scalp. _It's a good thing I had my knife; if I hadn't I would definitely have died just now. _I kneeled down next to the head, gripped the knife with both hands and gave a mighty yank. It pulled free with a sickening squelch, spurting blood in the air. Luckily none got on me.

I figured it's about time I left, so I stood up, holstered my pistol and knife (which I found a sheath for on my belt) and turned towards the painting, intending to leave the hallway.

But when I walked by the painting again I realized something. I looked back at the zombie, a single thought running through my head:

'…destruction of the head…'

_Come to think of it, what's stopping me from just skipping the whole burning part in general and stomping their heads in when they're on the ground? _I thought. _Eh, worth a try…_

I turned back towards the corpse and walked up next to its head. I didn't know what I was doing; obviously I'd never stomped someone's head in. I braced myself with my left foot, raised my right as high as it could go, and brought it back down on the zombie's head with a yell.

Its head caved in and popped with a disgusting CRUNCH and SPLAT sound. I immediately felt the urge to puke. I slowly drew my eyes downwards towards the mess I was sure to see.

There was a huge blood splat originating from the spot where its head used to be. There was grey matter spattering the floor and the nearby wall, not to mention my fatigues and combat boots. I did the best I could to shrug this whole thing off, and for the most part succeeded. But I still felt like I was gonna be sick.

The important thing was that my idea worked! This was great news; it meant that I didn't have to run back and forth across the mansion in search of kerosene jugs! I felt awesome because one of my ideas to tweak the game actually worked! Well, the statue thing wasn't exactly bad, but it still didn't work…

Anyways, I did my best to shake the blood and brains off my clothing (I'm not wiping it off. Not without leather fucking gloves) and walked back out of the hallway, cleaning my knife as I went. I grabbed the map from the wreckage of the statue, never breaking stride once. I walked to the door, opened it, walked through, and closed it behind me.

I quickly noticed Barry walking towards me. "Atom," He called as he jogged over, "glad to see you're okay."

He looked down and noticed the blood stain on my leg. "Oh my god, are you okay," he asked.

I quickly shook my hands, "No no, I'm fine. I just got into a close encounter with one of those… things." I added the pause to sound more convincing.

"Are you sure," he asked, concerned.

"Positive," I replied.

He sighed, relenting. "Alright then. Any luck so far?"

I sighed. "Well, I found a gun," I paused to indicate the rifle slung over my shoulder, "and a map of the first floor," I paused again to take out my map and show him, "but other than that, nothing."

"Me neither," he said, "look Atom…" he hesitated before continuing, "I think you're right. These creatures… They're exactly like zombies. There's no other explanation. The only question is how the hell all this is even possible…"

"You're guess is as good as mine," I said, "but enough of that. What should we do now?"

Barry appeared to think for a few moments before nodding and replying "We should split up again. We'll cover more ground that way. But before you go, take this." He held out a large metal canister to me.

"What is it?" I asked, even though I already knew.

"It's a canister of acidic grenade shells, for Forest's Grenade Launcher-"

_Beats the hell out of a "can of fizz" _I thought with an inward chuckle.

"-Take it. If you see him, give it to him, will you?" He handed me the canister, which I took and put in one of my larger pouches.

"I'll be sure to. See you around Barry." I said, giving him a salute.

He laughed. "Yeah, see you." He walked back to the Dining Room doors and walked through them, leaving me by myself.

_Alright, let's take inventory of what I just gained, _I thought, _I broke the statue, got a map of the 1__st__ floor and an M14 from the wreckage, remembered I have my Balisong Knife on me, figured out I can use it as a retrievable dagger (which is freaking awesome,) figured out I can just curb stomp the zombie's heads in instead of having to burn them with kerosene, and got a canister with 6 acid shells in it from Barry. Overall I think going in there first was definitely worth it. _

I looked around the Main Hall, thinking about my next move. _Now I have to go through the bird cage room, into the torch room and get the Arrowhead. Or I could go into the graveyard… Nah, there's no point in going there now. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. _Having made my decision I walked across the room to the Dining Room door and walked through into the Dining Room.

Nothing's changed since the last time I was in here. The fire was still going strong, the blood puddle was still on the ground, and Barry was nowhere in sight. He must have gone off somewhere else…

I wasted no time. I crossed to the other side of the room, went to the door, and walked through it. I turned to the right and could faintly see the outline of the First Zombie. After stomping George Trevor's head in I was already feeling pretty used to this, but not quite. Either way, it made it a lot easier to pull out my pistol, line up the sights, and pull the trigger.

The only problem was that it fired WAY differently than in the game. Instead of firing like the samurai Edge from REmake, it fired like the M93R from Resident Evil 5; lightning fast bursts. This caught me off guard and made the weapon fly out of my hands.

_Great, _I thought, _now it's coming at me. And I'm unarmed! _

As I thought this, the zombie turned around and started shambling towards me. I quickly reached down and picked the pistol back up. I was all the way across the hall, so I had plenty of time. I lined up the sights and fired again, but I was ready for it this time. While I wasn't able to control it as well as a military individual, at least it didn't fly out of my hands.

I was aiming towards its chest, so the first bullet hit its chest, the second hit its neck, and the third hit its forehead. But apparently the virus strengthened their skulls because it was still coming at me! I looked for a lever on my gun and found one to switch between semi-auto and triple-burst on the left side. I switched to semi-auto and squeezed another round off. It hit the neck. The zombie was about seven feet away now. I needed to hurry.

I braced my hand and fired again, hitting its head. Another shot in the head. Another shot.

_CRUNCH-SPLAT_

With the same disgusting sound as before its head finally exploded into gore, the zombie slumping over dead shortly after.

_Phew, _I thought, _I did it. I head-shotted my first zombie! And I only used ten bullets! Usually it takes about a full clip just to kill one. _So, feeling on top of the world, I turned around and headed towards the Tea Room.

_Oh yeah. _

My good mood immediately evaporated at the sight of Kenneth's corpse lying on the ground. His body was now cold; his skin dry and clammy. I quickly stepped around him and ran towards the door, throwing it open and running through.

I ran through and leaned against the door, gathering my thoughts. _Fuck, _I thought, _right when I get in a good mood it's crushed into pieces. I don't know how much more of this I can take…_

After organizing my thoughts I stood up straight and looked around. I was in a dark, short hallway with a turn to the right. There was a window in front of me, and a light shining into the hallway from the right turn. I walked around the corner and saw the rest of the room.

It's called the Bird Cage room, named after the bird cage placed on a side table in front of me. There was a flight of stairs that led to the second floor in front of me, and there were two green herbs at the base of the stairs. _Good, _I thought, _now if only I knew how to use them… _There was a dead body in the corner of the room. In the game, when you examine it, it says 'The body is collapsed against the wall like it was an instant death. What the hell happened in this mansion?' Creepy, I know.

I walked up to the bird cage. I looked inside and found a dead Raven. _Yum, _I thought sarcastically. On the table next to the cage was a clip. But not a Handgun Magazine (like it should be,) but an M14 magazine! I was shocked! _Then again, why should I be, _I thought, _with everything else that's been changed I really shouldn't be surprised. _

I shrugged and picked up the magazine, storing it in my ammo box. It still had three spaces for clips left, so I should be able to pick up all that I find. _That reminds me…_

I took out my pistol and looked for an ejecting switch. I found it above the grip and pushed it, pulling the clip out and putting it in the box. I took out a full clip and slid it home, the gun locking in place automatically. _I'm gonna have to get used to doing that fast, _I thought with a chuckle.

I strode across the room to the herbs. I yanked the plants out of the pots and stored them in my inventory. _That leaves four spaces left, _I thought. I ran back to the stairs and began taking them two at a time. When I got to the corner I felt a draft from above me. I looked up and saw the open window that the crows come in through later. I smirked and stood up on my tip toes, reaching up and shutting the shutters.

Take that, crows.

I turned around and began climbing the stairs again. When I got to the top there was a door in front of me. I turned back and looked out over the room from the second floor. It was interesting; being able to see this game from so many new angles. It was exhilarating, and at the same time terrifying. _Well, _I thought wryly, _one of the scariest rooms in the game here I come! _With this thought I took a deep breath and opened the door, walking through and closing it behind me.

**AN: **I intended to end this chapter after I got the arrowhead, but I think it's already long enough already, so I'm gonna end it here. So yeah, as usual, please review, and I hope you enjoyed!


	5. Chapter 4: The Arrowhead and the Key

Surviving: Resident Evil Remake

**AN: **FUCK! Figures that the one time I actually TRY to get a chapter out early Microsoft Word starts fucking up… So yeah, sorry for the wait guys. Enjoy!

_Italics: _My Thoughts

"Quotes:" Speaking Aloud

**Bold: **Author's Note

'Apostrophe:' Inscriptions and Writing

Chapter 4: The Peridot Arrowhead and the Sword Key

My first thought when I crossed over the threshold was: _Yuck. _The very first thing my eyes were drawn to was the V-Act (or Crimson Head) laying on the floor in front of me. And of course, I still wasn't quite used to seeing dead bodies (especially mutated ones) so needless to say it was pretty disgusting.

The next thing to cross through my mind wasn't a thought, but an emotion.

Fear.

According to memory, this thing doesn't stand up until you go past it to get the Armor Key. But my memory has been proven wrong many times so far. For all I knew, it could pop up right now! I didn't have a clue, and the suspense was killing me.

This is another thing in the game that gives you a suspense scare: the Crimson Heads. For those of you who don't know (if you don't, then why are you reading this? Go play it for yourself instead of reading about me doing it. Trust me: it's an awesome game) after killing a zombie (unless you blew its head off) you need to use the Fuel Canteen and the lighter on the body ASAP. Because if you don't, then after a couple of hours you'll notice the body suddenly turn red. And when this happens…

You're in for a heap of trouble.

When they turn red, that means that they've mutated into a Crimson Head. When this happens, they will have a chance of suddenly standing up and attacking you, without any warning whatsoever (and scare the shit out of you too.) This wouldn't be so bad, if it weren't for their sharp-ass claws and ability to RUN. If you have no choice but to fight one, I'd suggest doing it with a shotgun; otherwise these things will fuck you up. But, I digress.

Anyways, I was standing there, staring at the red body on the ground, waiting for it to pop up. I didn't allow myself to relax; not even to examine the room. I was scared out of my mind; the suspense driving me mad. _Well, _I thought, _I might as well take care of this thing now. _

I raised my hand to my face and stroked my chin, deep in thought. _Maybe if I try to curb stomp its head in then it won't rise up later! But it might rise up when I try to… Eh, worth a try. _I finished my thoughts with a shrug.

I holstered my pistol and brought out my M14. It was no shotgun, but it was the beefiest thing I had. And I needed to have it out; just in case.

I slowly approached the Crimson body, trembling all the while. The suspense was making me terrified; I was hoping beyond hope that it would stay down long enough to let me get a good stomp in.

I was right next to it now. _Come on Atom, every second you waste is another second closer this thing gets to standing up! _With that thought, I wasted no more time. I quickly brought my boot up and slammed it back down on its head.

Too late.

Just before my boot connected with its skull it suddenly jerked up into a standing position. I screamed bloody murder and jumped away; running to the other side of the hall, only to find myself face-to-face with a door.

I could hear the Crimson Head running up behind me. Luckily I didn't panic; I guess it was adrenaline. I grounded my back foot and used it as a pivot to spin around. I quickly brought my gun up to my shoulder and aimed down the iron sights. I was able to line up its head just before it was upon me and pulled the trigger. It wasn't enough to kill it, but at least it was slowed down. It gave me another shot; I took it, and hit it right in the eye.

It seemed that two shots to the head were enough; its head exploded into a mess of blood and chunks. Luckily I was able to step to the side in time to avoid the body, which slumped to the ground; dead.

I leaned against the wall and bent over, trying to catch my breath. _God dammit, _I thought, _I really hope I don't have to fight another one of those. _But as my thoughts drifted to a certain coffin in the Mansion's basement, I realized that I would - in fact - have to fight another one eventually.

By this point I was starting to get used to the dead bodies and the scares- albeit barely- and therefore it didn't take me as long to catch my breath, shrug it off, and organize my thoughts.

_Let's see… I have two 20 round clips, one of which I just used two bullets out of. That makes 38 shots left. That's a lot, but I'd still better stick with my pistol for now. It has more ammo, after all. _

I brought out the spare clip from my M14. After fiddling with the gun for a second I found the release lever and pushed it down, ejecting the clip and sliding the fresh one home. I put the partially spent clip back into my belt, slung the M14 over my shoulder again, and brought my pistol back out. I checked the magazine- completely full- and slid it back home. I crept around the headless body (luckily Crimson Heads don't reanimate again after being killed, even if you don't incinerate them or explode their heads) and took the time to examine the room.

I was facing the door I came in from. I was in a rather short corridor that was only being lit by fire torches, giving it an extremely eerie vibe. _Is it just me, or are those torches a severe fire hazard? Then again they probably used fire proof paint or something… _There were two Green Herbs at my feet, but I didn't take them for fear that I'd fill up my inventory. There was a door at each end of the corridor, with an archway next to the door I came through that led to another corridor. I knew there was no point in trying the door behind me. It didn't take a key, but I was insufficiently equipped to handle the death trap that lay beyond…

I shook my head to clear the deadly thoughts that were creeping in. I decided to head through the archway into the next area.

Oh yeah.

I looked to my right and saw a mirror. It was just an ordinary mirror; nothing special about it. But it was what was in the mirror that had me concerned.

I saw a zombie in the mirror.

I jerked my head to the left. Luckily it was a few feet away, and it seemed like it hadn't seen me yet. It was just standing there, staring into oblivion. I tiptoed back around the corner I came from and leaned back around it, bringing my gun to eye level. I squeezed a shot off.

BANG- SPLAT

I jumped in surprise as the first shot I fired blew its head clean off; the body slumping down to the ground. That was a pretty rare occasion in the game; when you managed to headshot a zombie on your first shot. I was pleasantly surprised, smiling in triumph. Now that the threat was taken care of, I looked at my surroundings.

I found myself in an even shorter corridor. It ran parallel to the other one. Like I mentioned earlier there was a mirror to my right, and to my left was another mirror at the end of the hall. The headless body of the zombie was laid out in front of the mirror. There was a door to my left on the right wall. Past the door the wall ended and opened up into another area. Just for the hell of it I tried the door on the right side of the hall. Sure enough, it was locked. I knew it was locked from the other side. I bypassed the door, stepped over the headless corpse, and looked down the new hallway.

This one was pretty much twice as big as the other corridors- it was twice as long and twice as wide. There was a slight overhang a little ways down it which had curtains hanging from it. The curtains were drawn up on both sides, revealing a long row of standing torches going down either side of the hallway. Some were knocked down, most likely by a careless zombie. At the end of the hallway there was a broken bust on the left side, another entryway behind the bust, and another mirror on the right side.

I ran down the hallway, gun drawn. I passed by the torches and went up to the bust. I saw an arrow stuck into the neck of the bust. _Creepy, _I thought. I knew that I needed this arrow, so I yanked it out of the bust and looked at it more closely.

There was no indication of such, but I knew from examining it in the game that the Arrowhead was made from Peridot, also known as Fools Emerald. I looked closely at where the arrowhead met the shaft. I saw that the shaft was threaded! So I quickly unscrewed the Arrowhead off of the shaft and threw the Shaft away, knowing that I won't need it anymore.

I stored the Arrowhead in my pouch, leaving me 3 spaces left in my inventory. I looked over towards the mirror and saw that there was another M14 clip at the base of it. I walked over and picked it up, putting it in the ammo box, leaving me with 2 more spaces for clips.

_Now, if this were normal or hard difficulty then there was a zombie right around this next corner. But there also wouldn't have been a clip next to the birdcage in the room I was just in._ _So that means I must be on easy difficulty, and there's no zombie around this corner! Awesome, I'm getting sick of zombies. _

With this thought I ran around the corner to the next area.

I was wrong.

There was, in fact, a zombie around the corner. It was facing me so it instantly saw me when I ran around the corner. It lunged at me and luckily came up short, giving me time to back up and bring my gun up to aiming position. I kept shooting it while continuously backing up, keeping at a safe distance while still raining down fire. After about 5 shots or so it fell down. It wasn't dead; it was just stunned. I quickly ran up to it and brought my boot down on its head. It exploded into a mess of gore- all over my boots. _Yuck. _

I wiped my boots off on the carpet- trying to quell the rising bile in my throat all the while- and reprimanded myself.

_Atom, you idiot! Why would you automatically assume there was no zombie around that corner?! Jesus Christ, I really need to get with the program. _I rubbed my face frustratedly while pondering over the difficulty. _Okay, so I found a clip by the birdcage- which only appears on Easy mode. But I also fought a zombie here, which only appears on hard mode. So… Does that mean that this reality I've found myself in has all the enemies of Hard Mode, while retaining the abundance of supplies from Easy Mode? Well, I suppose it could be worse… It could have had the severe lack of items of Hard Mode as well. _

I checked my magazine. I'd fired six shots since I last reloaded, leaving me with 84 shots left. _Time to reload, _I thought_. _So I tried to do it as fast as I could; for practice. I ejected the clip, caught it, stored it in the ammo box, brought a fresh one out, slid it home, and pulled the slide back- signifying its readiness to fire. I did it all in about four seconds- not too bad all things considered.

I walked over the freshly killed zombie, through the last archway, and into the last area of this room.

It wasn't a corridor; this time it was just a cube- shaped room. _More like a rectangular prism, _I thought as I looked up. The ceiling was about 10 feet above my head. In the corner opposite of me there was yet another mirror, but this one was almost completely shattered and scattered about the floor. There was a door on the wall opposite of me, but I knew it was locked from the other side. There was another door to my right, however. I walked over to it and looked and jiggled the handle. It was locked, but it was locked from this side. I turned the lock- the satisfying sound of the door unlocking resonating through the room. I opened the door and stepped through.

My eyes were instantly drawn to the zombie on the opposite side of the room. There was a banister and a huge hole that separated us, the hole leading down into the Dining Room. The zombie instantly saw me and started walking around the banister, trying to get to me. I decided not to give it the chance.

I quickly holstered my pistol and brought my M14 to bear, shouldering it and lining up the sights. I aimed right at its head and fired. _Fuck, I missed! _I realigned and shot again, this time chipping its forehead. It was enough, and its head was demolished into a spray of blood, the body slumping down to the ground.

I let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding and brought my M14 down. I quickly reloaded it with my last fresh clip and slung it over my back again, bringing my pistol back out.

I was in the room above the Dining Room; on the banisters. There wasn't much for decor up here, aside from a few paintings, and a shelving unit to my left. The shelving unit didn't have a dagger on it like it did in the game. This just further solidified my theory that I'm supposed to use my Balisong Knife for a self-defense item. There was also a statue of a woman on the banister across from me. I knew what it was for, so I made my way around the large banister and came up to it.

It was a simple stone statue of a woman with one hand at her side and the other extended above her head. I could see something glistening in her outstretched hand. _The Blue Gemstone, _I thought. I looked at the banister near to the statue and saw a conveniently placed empty space in the railing. It took some effort, but after a few minutes I finally managed to push the statue in front of the gap. I went over to the side facing away from the railing and started pushing it towards the gap. It only took a few pushes before the statue was sent over the edge and down to the ground below, shattering with a loud echo.

Having fully completed this room I went to a set of double doors across the room and walked through them, finding myself back in the Main Hall. I was on the second floor, the stairs back to the first floor a few feet in front of me. I walked over to them and walked down to the painting in between floors, directly in front of the Front Doors.

Being up this close I could clearly see the outline of a door in the painting. If you weren't looking for the door it would have been pretty hard to see, but I already knew it was there. So, without further ado, I pushed the door open and walked through.

For the first time since I'd entered the mansion I found myself outside. It was obviously some kind of cemetery, I knew because of the hundreds of graves scattered about. I was on a slight incline from the rest of the area; a flight of stairs to my left. I walked down it only to turn around the railing and find another flight, with a zombie at the base of them. It looked like it had crawled out of one of the graves. I shuddered.

I brought my pistol to bear and shot it down from the safety of the stairs, using 10 bullets. That leaves me with 74 shots left, and six fresh clips left. Luckily (for some reason) these types of zombies don't turn into crimson heads; they just disappear when you leave the area. While you won't catch me complaining, I think it's a little weird.

Across from the stairs, past the former zombie, there was a fenced off enclosure. I could see one of the death masks in it, but the door that led into it was locked from the other side. So I couldn't get it until later in the game.

To the left of the stairs was a walkway that led to a stone carving of some kind of cupid thing. There was a small opening in the left fence of the walkway that led to a small grotto. I could see a zombie in the grotto through the fences. I brought up my pistol and tried shooting it through the fence. The first shot connected and made it start shambling towards me, but the next five either missed or hit the fence. So I ran forward to get a better shot, turned to the left, and fired three more times before it slumped down in defeat.

I'd fired nine shots. I reloaded, leaving me with 65 shots left and five fresh clips. _Jesus, _I thought, _I'm going through these clips faster than I thought I would. _

I walked over the corpse. By now I was used to it. The zombies, I mean. Not the killing. I could never get used to that…

Anyways, I walked over to the tree in the grotto. I'd always wondered exactly where they were, because in the game I never really saw them. I'd just mash the A button until I bent down and picked them up. After searching for a couple of moments, I found it hidden behind a gravestone.

A box of eight Shotgun Shells. (**AN: **I know that it's six in the game, but I examined it and realized that it doesn't make any sense. So I made it eight.)

It was an Ammo Box, just like mine. It had two packets of shells (four each) to be used with either the standard Shotgun, or the Assault Shotgun. I put them in a pouch on my right side, leaving me with 2 spaces left.

I went back onto the walkway and started walking towards the carving. Looking to my left and right I saw more gravestones. Some of them were heavily worn down and some of them were straight up in pieces. But one thing that they all had in common: They were all written in Greek. I always found this weird. I mean, what point were they trying to make by making them in Greek? Was Osborne Spencer of Greek descent? Who fucking knows…

Anyways, I finally came to the end of the walkway and found myself face-to-face with the Cupid carving. On closer inspection it seemed to be some kind of tomb; there was a gravestone attached to the ground in front of the carving. Obviously it was a naked baby-like figure with wings and a bow and arrow, but there was one thing missing:

There was an indentation in the carving where the Arrowhead was supposed to be, almost like someone removed it.

I reached into my pouch and grabbed the Peridot Arrowhead, pulling it out. I stood on the gravestone and stood up on my tip-toes, barely reaching the indentation and slipping the Arrowhead into the slot. Now I have two spaces left in my inventory.

I quickly hopped off the gravestone as it started sliding; slowly receding back into the wall, revealing a staircase underneath it. _Zelda much? _I thought with a chuckle.

I slowly started my descent down into the Basement. It was a really long staircase; about three flights or so. On the way down I looked to the right and saw a barred opening in the brick, with a fire burning on the other side. A couple more steps and the stairway opened up into a huge stone-bricked room. The only lighting was a series of barred openings in the wall that led to fires, exactly like the one in the stairway.

There were massive cogs and gears turning on the ceiling and filling the room with a lot of "Silent Hill Industrial Shit.*" Directly to the left of the stairs was a series of carvings on the wall.

There were four of them. They were all faces, but they were all missing something. One had a hole where the nose should have been, one had a hole where the mouth should have been, one had a hole where the eyes should have been, and one had holes where the eyes, nose, and mouth should have been. It was really creepy.

To the right of the stairs was a large room with two outstanding features. The less blatant one was a pedestal set into the wall that had a rectangular indentation on the top of it. The indentation had a book resting inside.

The more blatant feature terrified me to no end. Above the pedestal there sat a massive coffin, hanging by four chains attached to the walls. Remember earlier, when I was talking about a certain coffin in the basement? Well this is that coffin. I knew exactly what lay in it, and it made me EXTREMELY hesitant to get the book from the pedestal.

_Okay Atom, _I thought, _you can do this. You don't have to fight that thing until way later in the game. Then again, who's to say that taking the book couldn't trigger it right now?! Oh god, please don't let it drop right now. _

I finally equipped my M14 and started approaching the pedestal. On the way I passed underneath the coffin. I could have sworn that at one point something dripped onto my face while I was underneath it, but I didn't check in order to preserve my sanity.

Finally I came up to the pedestal. I could see the book more clearly now; it was a royal purple color with gold trimmings. I got into a running position and snatched the book before sprinting back to the side of the room with the carvings.

Once at the other side I spun back around and aimed down the sights of my rifle, only to find that the coffin hadn't dropped and there were no enemies in sight. _Oh thank god, _I thought.

I slung the rifle back over my shoulders and looked at the book in my hands. The front was simply titled 'Book of Curse.' Underneath the title a locking band started and curved around to the back. I tried opening it and sure enough, it was locked. I turned it over to look at the back only to find a metal piece built into the back. And guess what was fitted into the metal piece?

The Sword Key.

I carefully removed the key from the metal piece, which made a resounding CLICK as I did so. I looked at the key more closely. It had a diamond-shaped head piece and was gold in color. I turned it over to look at the back and saw an engraving of a sword. I put it in my pouch, leaving me with only one space left once again.

Finally I looked back at the book in my left hand. Apparently the key was fixed to the locking mechanism because when I tried to open it again it worked. It opened up to… Gibberish.

Once again, the book was written in Greek. _What the fuck man? What is it with these guys and fucking GREEK?! _I quickly flipped through the pages and found a page about mid way through the book that was actually written in English. This is what it said:

Four Masks

One that Speaks no evil,

One that Smells no evil,

One that Sees no evil,

and One that Sees, Smells, and Speaks no evil.

When all the masks are brought together, evil will awaken…

A shudder ran down my spine.

Of course, I knew what it meant. It was referring to the Death Masks, one of which was just up the stairs. But that didn't make it any less creepy.

Having gotten what I came down here for I closed the book and put it in my back pocket. I ran back up the stairs without looking back once.

I ran back through the cemetery, almost tripping one of the bodies on my way back, and ran through the door back into the Main Hall.

**AN: **And done! So I got the Sword Key. Yay! That means I can go to all the Safe Rooms now!

*I don't expect anyone to get this reference. But if you do, tell me in a review and I'll give you a shout out! PEACE! :D


	6. Chapter 5: The East Stairway Safe Room

Surviving: Resident Evil Remake

** AN: **Heyo! How goes? Here's a little fun fact: I typed the first half of this last night, but I couldn't finish it because I started getting freaked out! XD Anyways, please enjoy and review. Thanks! :D

_Italics: _My Thoughts

"Quotes:" Speaking Aloud

**Bold: **Author's Note

'Apostrophe:' Inscriptions and Writing

Chapter 5: The East Stairway Safe Room

_Well then, _I thought, _Now that I've got the Sword Key I can get to the Safe Rooms. But which one… _For anyone who doesn't know, there are a number of rooms scattered around the game that have both an Item Box and a Typewriter. Not only that, but they all play a specific song as long as you're in them. The song itself is really peaceful and this, coupled with the fact that no harm can possibly befall you in these rooms makes them Safe Rooms. I could really use some peace and quiet at this point, and a place to store all my stuff, which is why they're my next stop.

_Well, the Safe Room under the East Stairway has more stuff in it, and there's also a lot of stuff I'll need along the way. Okay, it's settled; Next stop, the East Stairway Safe Room! _Having made my decision I started walking only to come to another dilemma. _Which path should I take? I could take the 2__nd__ floor path and pick up the lighter and the Dog Whistle along the way. _

_Or I could take the 1__st__ floor path. I don't like that area. I hate the window scare over there, and the bathtub scene. But I do need to get the Herbicide, and I'd rather only take one trip over there… Alright, it's settled. I'll take the 1__st__ floor path, trigger the bathtub zombie, get the Old Key, get the Herbicide, make my way to the stairway, kill the three zombies in there, and finally get into the Safe Room. But while I'm here… _I walked up the stairs to my left and over to the door closest to the stairs. I took out my Sword Key, fit it into the lock, and turned it to the right. I felt the door unlock with a resounding CLICK. I pocketed the Key and made my way downstairs and to the door to the Art Room. I turned the handle, opened the door, and walked through, the sound of the door closing behind me resonating throughout the Main Hall.

I found myself back in the Art Room. The marble statue still laid before me, broken into pieces. I made my way around it and walked to the door in the far right corner of the room. I took out the Sword Key and unlocked the door, the sound once again resonating throughout the room. I pocketed the key and walked through the door into a brightly lit hallway.

I was in a well-lit corridor. It went on for a while before eventually branching off to the left in a 90 degree angle. I knew that around the corner it went on for about the same distance before you'd come across another door. There was a window on the right hand wall that looked outside. It showed heavy signs of wear, as shown by the enormous cracks that encompassed the entire window. This window is actually the culprit of a very amusing story…

When Tayne and I were first playing this game, needless to say we were jumping out of our skins at the slightest things. So when we walked by this window and it made that loud and EXTREMELY piercing cracking sound, obviously we had a mini heart attack.

I warily approached the window with my Pistol raised. Hey, for all I knew, a dog could have jumped through it right then. Once I got within a few feet of it, naturally it made the cracking sound.

"AUGH!" I cried, jumping a foot in the air. In the game, I'd grown used to it. But in real life it was scary again. Now I know how Peter Man felt whenever he got shocked by the door…*

I immediately slammed my mouth closed and held my breath, not making a sound. I didn't know if something had heard that… Luckily nothing seemed to have heard it, so after a few moments of silence I started walking towards the end of the hall.

I reached it and peaked around the corner. Sure enough, there was another hallway the same length as the last one, with a door at the end. There were a few decorative shelves along the left wall. I walked down the hall towards a certain one about halfway down the hall. I pushed on it from the side, moving it over to reveal an Extended Pistol Clip. I picked it up and stored it in my Ammo Crate. Having fully explored this room I quickly walked to the door at the end of the corridor and walked through it.

I found myself in a squarical room. There was an old door on the wall to my right. _Let's see… Behind that door is the Herbicide. I need it to kill the T-Virus Plant guarding the Death Mask, but I can't unlock this door without an Old Key. And the closest place with an Old Key is…_ _Gulp. _My head slowly turned to the door down the hall to my left.

The Bathroom.

There was a doorway in the left hand corner of the square, across from me. Down it was a door on the right wall, which led to the Bathroom, and a turn to the right. I didn't intend to come back to this area of the mansion again, so I needed to get the Herbicide now. That only left one option: _I have to get the Old Key from the bathroom. _

_Fuck. _

_Well, here goes… _I walked across the room and down the hall to the door. I opened it and walked through, the door swinging shut behind me.

I was in a simple Bathroom. There was a Sink directly to my right, and an old-fashioned ceramic tub directly in front of me. Off to my right, past the sink, there was a small enclosure. That's where the toilet was.

My attention was drawn back to the tub. The thing about it that drew my attention to it was the simple fact that:

It's full of dirty water.

The water was so dirty I couldn't even see through it. It was like it was black. I knew the Old Key was in the Tub; I just needed to drain it. So I looked towards the faucet and saw a chain hooked to the nozzle. _Thank god, _I thought, _Ain't no way I'm reaching into that water. _So braced myself before leaning over the tub, taking hold of the chain, and tugging the plug out of the drain-

Just as a rotting hand reached out and grabbed a hold of my hand.

I held in a scream of fright as I jumped back and bumped my hip - rather painfully – against the counter-top. I withheld a stream of pained curses as the rest of the zombie slowly rose out of the water and stood in front of me. It stretched its hands out and tried to walk towards me, but ended up tripping over the edge of the tub and falling at my feet. It started trying to grab onto my ankle so it could take a bite out of it. I quickly ripped my foot out of its grasp and brought it back down on its head, popping it and sending blood all over the floor.

I'd always hated this scene in the game; it always freaked me the fuck out. But seeing it in real life was infinitely worse. For example: upon closer inspection I could see the zombie's flesh and muscle falling off from soaking in the water for too long. This alone was enough to make me gag. But not throw up; I refused to throw up like Jill does in this scene.

I gingerly stepped over the body, paranoid that it would somehow attack me again. I looked into the stained tub and saw a rusty Old Key lying at the bottom. I snatched it up and put it in my last belt pouch. With that, I turned around and walked back out the door I came in through.

I walked to the left- up to the Old Door. I pulled out the Old Key and fit it into the lock. I turned it to the right, the sound of the door unlocking echoing in my head. Unfortunately the strain was too much on the rusted key, and it snapped in two- the other half lost in the locking mechanism. With a shrug of my shoulders I threw the useless key half away and pushed open the door, walking through to the other side.

I was immediately hit with a blast of cool air. I'd found my way outside again! I could hear the ominous sounds of millions of crickets and the occasional wolf howl in the distance. At least, I hope it was from a wolf…

I looked around and saw that I was in a fenced off enclosure. It was a simple paved walkway that went to the left and curved around the corner of the Mansion to the left in a 90 degree angle. I walked to the corner only to jump out of my skin once again as a piercing sound said hello to my ears.

Barking.

I looked past the fence and saw that there were two Cerberi on the other side of the fence. In the game they don't try to hop the fence until you come out here a second time. But I'm not ruling anything out; I'm keeping my guard up. I cautiously crept around the corner- the sound of padded feet hitting the soil resonating in my ears all the while. I walked to the wheelbarrow in the midst of a rubbish pile at the end of the walkway. In it was a bag- a bag of Herbicide. _SCORE! _But this raised a problem:

Where am I going to carry it?

I obviously couldn't put it in my pouch; it was way too big! But after some pondering I looked at my right shoulder and saw a clip hanging off of my uniform. I brought the bag to eye level and- sure enough- there was a loop in the fabric, for carrying it, I guess… So I fitted the loop through the clip and let it hang off my shoulder. It threw off my balance, which would make aiming difficult, but it would have to do.

I glanced at the pile of other supplies. I saw three Green Herbs and two Red Herbs. Now I still didn't know how to mix or use herbs yet, but I figured _I'll grab this for when I do. _So I grabbed one of the Red Herbs and put it into my only remaining pouch. Having gathered everything I needed I walked back the way I came and walked back through the door.

I found myself facing the hallway that led to the bathroom, and another room that I have yet to explore. _Well, _I thought, _no other way to go now. _So I walked down the hall into the next room.

I found myself in a sort of staging area. By that I mean that there's an unlit fireplace with two windows to the left and right of it, but no chairs. I was never really sure what the point of this area was…

I walked across it to another hallway that led to another squarical room (I know that's not really a word.) There was a door on the left wall.

Shudder. I'll come back to this room later.

There was a set of double doors to my right. With no other options available, I walked through the double doors.

I was in a very wide but very short hallway. The hall branched off to the right at the end, once again, in a 90 degree angle. There were two doors on the wall to my right, before the wall ends. There was another door on the left wall, all the way at the end. There was an oak side table separating the two doors on the right. The door on the left led to the painting room, but it was locked with an Armor lock. By that, I mean you need the Armor Key to open it. So with that door down, I looked towards the two doors on my right. The farthest door had the Spencer's Family Emblem insignia etched into the door. It led to the private study of Sir Osborne Spencer himself, but I needed the Emblem Key to open that door. There was also a door around the corner of the room that led outside, but I wasn't properly equipped to handle that puzzle yet. So with only one option, I headed to the door closest to me on the right.

But my memory, a loud moan, and the raised hairs that followed all combined to remind me I'm not alone in here.

I remembered that there's a zombie around the corner in this room. I readied my pistol and started walking forward. I steadily made my way across the room, not making a sound as I went. I intended to sneak up on it and kill it with one shot. And I would have, if it weren't for a certain floor board that decided to cry out in protest when I walked over it.

CREEAAAK

The zombie definitely heard this, as a few seconds later it shambled around the corner at me. I quickly backpedaled to the opposite side of the room, the floorboards squeaking under me as I went. Once I was back at the double doors I lined up the zombie's head in my sights and pulled the trigger. The bang was especially loud in here, on account of the tight space. And I had missed my shot! Like I said earlier, the bag of Herbicide was throwing off my center of gravity! It made my shot go off to the right. So I aimed again, but more carefully this time. I fired, and it hit its mark! But it wasn't enough. The zombie was still coming at me, head still intact. It was about halfway across the room now. I fired again- still not enough! It was now within four feet of me. If this shot didn't do the job, I was gonna have my second close encounter of the night a little sooner than I thought! With this in mind I lined up my shot again, as careful as could be, and fired.

Missed.

The next thing I knew the zombie's hands were grappling onto my shoulders. It brought its head down towards my neck, with every intention of tearing a chunk out of it. Luckily I was able to think fast enough to dodge its teeth and at the same time grab my Balisong Knife out of its sheath. I flipped it open with a simple maneuver- no time for fanciness now. I held it in a reverse grip and brought it up before bringing it back down on top of the zombie's head.

CRUNCH-SPLAT

To my surprise, the zombie's head exploded as if I'd shot it! Unfortunately its head happened to be right in front of mine, and as a result, I got blood, skull chunks, and brain matter all over my face and torso.

"AGH," I shouted in disgust. I shoved the lifeless body away from me and it fell backwards to the ground, making a loud THUD. I used the bandanna wrapped around my neck to wipe as much gore off my face as possible. _Thank god my mouth wasn't closed, _I thought. Finished with wiping off my face I discarded the filthy bandanna onto the ground. _Sorry Piers. _

I looked down at my feet, looking for my knife. Luckily it seemed to fall straight at my feet after I used it, so I picked it up, wiped all the blood I could off of it, and sheathed it once again. I took out my Ammo Crate and took out one of my remaining fresh magazines. I loaded it into my pistol and put the spent mag into the Ammo Crate, leaving me with 81 shots and five fresh magazines left. Having taken care of the immediate threat I walked back to the door on my right and walked through it, the doorknob feeling very loose as I turned it.

I found myself in a very short and cramped hallway that led out into a much bigger room. I could see the bottom of a set of stairs directly in front of me, across the room. I could also hear a guttural moan that sounded very close to me…

I aimed down the sights for my pistol and cautiously crept forwards until I found myself in the large Stairway area. My attention was instantly drawn towards the zombie that was underneath the stairs as it started walking towards me. I lined up the shot and fired, it connected but didn't kill. I fired again, still no dice. In total I fired about eight rounds before its head exploded and it slumped down at my feet. _That was a little too close for comfort, _I thought. My ears then picked up on the sound of greasy footsteps hitting a carpeted floor.

I looked at the flight of stairs and saw another zombie slowly walking down them. I lined up the sights once again and fired. I missed, once again it was because of the Herbicide, and partially because the zombie was kind of far away. I fired and missed again. The zombie was rounding the corner of the stairs and descending the last stretch. It had gotten closer, so my next volley of shots was dead-on. I fired again and again, and finally, its head exploded and the slide on my Pistol locked in place. The headless body slumped down at my feet, just like the last one. _That was an even CLOSER call. I can't believe I emptied an entire clip at two zombies! _I opened my Ammo Crate and extracted another fresh clip while taking the empty one out of my Pistol. I threw the empty mag aside, knowing I wouldn't be needing it anymore. After all, you only ever find magazines in this; you never find a box of ammo. So anyways, I slid the new clip home and released the slide; I was ready to rock once again. That left me with 10 clips, 60 shots, and four fresh clips left.

I examined the room a little more closely. There was a flight of stairs that led up to the second floor area in front of me. I looked up at the second floor and saw a hallway that extended to the left, past the corner, into another corridor. There was another short hallway on the right side of the banister area that extended away from me. I could barely see a door at the end of the short hallway, and a door on the right wall, next to the railing. I knew it was missing a doorknob, so there was no point in trying it. I brought my attention back to the floor I was currently on. There was a door underneath the stairs that I knew led into the Safe Room. I walked up to it with the intention of going through, but a faint moan caught my attention. With a jolt I remembered that I'm still not alone in here.

I kept my pistol at ready position and listened for footsteps as I cautiously ascended the stairs two at a time. I reached the top and looked down the hallway to the left. It was the longest one I'd seen yet. There was a door about halfway down on the right with broken glass next to it. I picked one of the shards up as I walked by, careful not to cut myself with it. I reached the end of the hallway, but kept my distance. It simply turned to the right at the end. I knew there was a door at the end, and nothing else of interest. I slowly brought my hand up and threw the shard of glass at the wall as hard as I could, the loud noise of it shattering sounding throughout the hallway.

And a few seconds later, a zombie walked around the corner to investigate, only to be met with a bullet to the eye.

Luckily I managed to blow its head up with one bullet. By now the shock of seeing a zombie's head explode had almost completely worn off. Instead, it mostly filled me with a sense of accomplishment, because I figured that every zombie I killed was one less I would have to worry about later.

I didn't bother reloading since I had only fired one bullet. I turned around and headed back down the hallway, down the stairs, and to the door under the stairs. I readied my pistol; just in case, and slowly crept through the door.

I quickly scanned the room. It was a simple rectangular room, and it must have been used as a simple supply room; there was all sorts of junk scattered about. There was a Typewriter in the corner to my right, right next to me. There was a large crate in the left corner across the room. There was also a stack of boxes about two feet in front of the crate with an oil lamp on top, which lit the room with a very relaxing glow. On the impromptu table, next to the lamp, was a Pistol Clip. But this one was different. Instead of being extended and holding .40 S&W Rounds, it was standard size and held .45 ACP Rounds. _Wait, what?! What the hell am I going to use this for?! It looks like this was intended for a USP 45, a pistol manufactured in Germany by Heckler and Koch, or H&K. But I don't have a USP 45, I have a modified M9! So why the hell is this here?! Maybe I'm supposed to find one later… Oh well. I'd best not dwell on this too long_. I looked at the room one last time to make sure there were no enemies; there weren't.

Once I sounded the all clear in my head I instantly felt infinitely more relaxed. All the tension melted away and was replaced by an utter calmness. Too bad the music isn't playing…

I immediately crossed the room to the Item Box. I'd always wondered what it looked like in these things, and now I was going to find out. I was so excited! I eagerly opened up the lid. It wasn't quite what I was expecting; instead of an empty box like I expected, I saw a series of smaller boxes inside of it. There were a lot of them; about 30. They were big enough to hold anything that was big enough to fit in my pouches. On the underside of the lid was a series of mesh slings, there were about 8 of them, and they were big enough to hold anything you'd be able to find in this game. I'm pretty sure I could have fit the Rocket Launcher into one of these things, if I had it…

Anyways, I fished a medium sized table out of the pile of rubbish and perched it next to the Item Box. I emptied all of my pouches and took inventory. I had: two green Herbs, one Red Herb, an Ink Ribbon with two uses left, the Samurai Edge, my Ammo Crate (which had 60 .40 S&W rounds in 10 Extended Pistol Clips; four of which were fresh, and 56 7.62x39mm rounds in 3 M14 clips; only one of which was fresh,) the Sword Key, a container of six Acid Shells, a box of eight Shotgun Shells, the bag of Herbicide, and the M14. The M14 was slung over my shoulder, so it didn't use an inventory slot. I then remembered that there's still stuff in this room that I haven't gotten yet. I looked on the ground in between the boxes stack and the Item Box and saw a rather conspicuous piece of paper. I picked it up and read it. I can't remember exactly what it said, but basically it said that I needed to either incinerate, or blow the head off of any zombie that I come across to prevent them from becoming a Crimson Head. I already knew this, so I put it in my pocket and carried on.

I looked on the ground next to the Typewriter and found a Flask. The game can bullshit me all it wants by calling it a Fuel Canteen, but to me, I just see a Flask. I didn't bother picking it up because it was useless to me; after all, I didn't need to incinerate the zombies because I could just as easily stomp their heads in while they're down. I looked on the table next to the Typewriter and saw another Old Key. I picked it up and brought it back to my Table of Contents-

Lol

-picking up the USP 45 mag along the way and putting them both on the table with the rest of the stuff. I sorted everything into two piles: the pile of stuff I'm keeping on me, and the pile of stuff I'm putting away. I remembered that there should be some supplies waiting for me in the chest so I opened it again and searched all the boxes, eventually finding another full Ink Ribbon, a First Aid Spray (SCORE,) and an Extended pistol mag. I put it into the Ammo Crate, bringing me up to 80 .40 S&W rounds in 11 Extended Pistol Clips; five of which were fresh.

So anyways, in the 'keep' pile I put: the Samurai Edge, the M14, the Ammo Crate and all its contents, the Ink Ribbons (for the moment,) the Old key, the Sword Key, and the First Aid Spray. In the 'put away' pile I put: the Green and Red Herbs, the USP 45 clip, the bag of Herbicide, the box of Shotgun Shells, and the Acid Shells. So I opened up the crate and put all the supplies from the 'put away' pile into the boxes within, marking them with a sharpie I'd found earlier in my back pocket. I put the supplies in the 'keep' pile in my pouches, except for the pistol and M14, which I put in my holster and slung over my shoulder, respectively. I walked over to the Typewriter, fishing out my Ink Ribbon as I went. I still didn't know if this actually saved my game or not, but I figured I might as well. I fit the Ink Ribbon into the Typewriter and locked it in place. I typed: 'Atom / 02 / East Stairway.' I then took the Ink Ribbon out and walked back over to the box, putting the Ribbon inside it and marking the box I put it in. _So, _I thought, _I have my Pistol, my Rifle, my Ammo Crate, an Old Key, the Sword Key, and a First Aid Spray on me. I also have a canister of six Acid Shells, two Green Herbs, one Red Herb, a box of eight Shotgun Shells, a clip for a USP 45, and four Ink Ribbon uses in the Item Box. I wonder if the stuff still travels between Boxes… Alright, now that I've got a means of storing my items secured, I just need to figure out where I'm going next. _

_I could go down into the kitchen to get another Old key… Nah, I'll get it when I need it. I could go to the other side of the mansion, get the broken shotgun, and use it to get the Shotgun, or I could fight the two dogs on the West Terrace. When I play the game I usually get the shotgun first so that I'll have something beefy enough to take down both of the dogs. But I do have the M14… I think I'll take on the two zombie dogs first, get the Armor Key, and then go and get the Shotgun. I'll decide what to do after that once I've done it. Let's see, what will I need… I'll need an Old Key to get through the door to the Terrace, good thing I already have one. I'll need the Dog Whistle; I'll have to get that from the study above me. I'll also need the Sword Key, but that's a given… I think that's it. _

Having made my decision I made my way to the door and opened it, stepping through and letting it shut behind me.

**AN: **Done! If I made any mistakes, please don't hesitate to tell me. I think I might have…

Once again, if anyone sees this symbol: * and can tell me what I'm referencing with this quote, I'll give you a shout out. Oh yeah, and MERRY CHRISTMAS!


	7. Chapter 6: The Lighter, Whistle, and Map

Surviving: Resident Evil Remake

** AN: **Waddup! How goes? I'm good, thanks for asking. HAHAHA good joke! Oh god, I need some friends… Anyways, here's chapter 6 (not counting the Prologue) of S:RER. Enjoy! I'm sure I don't need to say it again, but please leave a review for me. Thanks! :D

_Italics: My thoughts _

"Quotes:" Speaking Aloud

**Bold: **Author's Note

'Apostrophe:' writing and inscriptions

Chapter 5: The Lighter, the Whistle, and the Map

Upon exiting I immediately headed towards the stairs, looking at the wall to my left as I ascended them. I noticed that the wall was completely covered in various framed paintings and portraits. This wasn't so interesting; there were thousands of pictures in this mansion. But the thing that unsettled me about them was the one thing that they all had in common.

On every single one of them, the faces of the people were scratched off.

It looked like someone had taken some sort of spike and rabidly scratched off the face of every single person in these pictures. The fact that there's no explanation as to why these are like this, or who did it, makes this extremely unsettling to me.

Anyways, I crested the last step and walked to the right. I walked to the end of the walkway and turned away from the door in front of me, to the left. I could see the last door down a short hallway. I walked up to it and was about to open it, but hesitated with my hand on the doorknob.

_Now if my memory serves me correctly, there are two zombies on the other side of this door. Ordinarily that wouldn't be a problem, but they're pretty much right on the other side of this door, to the left and right. So I can't just barge through; I'd get double teamed! I need to be smart about this… _So after a couple moments of deliberation my eyes lit up and a devious smirk planted itself upon my mouth.

I backtracked down the stairs and into the Safe Room. I grabbed one of the stray pieces of rubbish lying around; I think it was a step ladder or something; I wasn't paying too much attention. Anyways, I brought it back up stairs to the door I was about to go through. I turned the handle and pulled it open, putting the ladder on the ground and wedging the door open. _Take that, game engine! _I kicked the wall as hard as I could. _Ouch. _

It worked; the two zombies shambled around the corner after a few moments. The cramped corner didn't allow for a lot of shoulder room. Therefore, they were forced to come in one at a time. I backpedaled and brought my Pistol up to bare. I squeezed off about 6 rounds before the zombie- to my surprise- didn't die, but instead slumped to the floor, stunned. This allowed the second zombie to walk over its stunned comrade and take its turn trying to attack me. I didn't have enough room to fight this one so I turned to my left and ran back to the beginning of the stairs. I turned back around just as the zombie rounded the corner. Once again, I brought my Pistol to eye level and opened fire. This time, it took a whopping 13 rounds to blow up its head! It slumped to the ground just as the first one rounded the corner. _It's gotten back up, _I thought. I brought my pistol up and fired. It hit its mark, but I rapidly became aware of a very serious problem:

The slide locked in place; my mag was dry.

"SHITS," I swore out loud in panic. Don't ask me why I made it plural; I usually have pretty creative swears. I brought my eyes away from the zombie and down to my firearm. I went through the reloading process: hit the release lever, take the dry clip out, throw it away, take a new one out of my Ammo box, slide it home, lock the slide in, DONE. I raised the gun back up-

only to jam it in the zombie's mouth just before it could lock its jaws on my neck.

The zombie immediately latched its hands on my vest and reflexively started biting down on the barrel of the gun. To prevent it from doing any further damage to my gun I did the thing that any sane man would do in my situation:

I pulled the trigger.

Predictably, its head exploded in a shower of red mist that completely covered my face and chest. _Not again, _I thought exasperatedly as I stumbled back in shock; the corpse falling down in front of me. I rapidly wiped at my face to clear the blood from around my nose, mouth, and eyes. Once I'd wiped off the most of it I opened my eyes tentatively. Luckily no zombified blood seeped into my eyes or mouth. I looked down at my chest and sighed in aggravation; it was completely COVERED in blood. You could hardly tell it was green at one point! _Oh well, _I thought, _no use dwelling over something I can't fix. _

With this thought I brought my gun down and wiped the blood off it as best I could. Once I was finished wiping the blood off of it I brought it back down to hip level. Once again, I didn't bother reloading it because I had only fired one shot. I walked over the zombie corpses and to the open door, walking through the threshold. I pushed the step ladder out of the door jam and quickly stepped through the door before it shut behind me.

I was in a very dark hallway. There were very few lights, and they were all dim as fuck. I was in the middle of the hallway. It extended about ten feet to my right before ending. There was a door on the right wall next to the end. To my left was a doorway that led to another hallway that turned to the right. I knew that it went on for about the same distance before once again turning to the right, making this room into a sort of U shape.

There was a small desk right next to the door I came in through, to my left. On it was a lit lamp and a strange contraption comprised of two pieces of grey wood connected by two hinges along the sides. I picked it up and opened it, only to find a single sheet of thick, blank paper on the inside of it. It seemed to be easily removable.

For the longest time I had no idea what this thing was used for. I'd just always assumed that it was completely pointless since you obviously don't need it to beat the game. But I only just realized that it actually DOES have a purpose; it's just really tricky to find out. Honestly, I had to look it up on the internet.

_Eh, I might as well do this while I have it, _I thought. So I turned back around to head back through the door I came in, but once again, I hesitated. _Wait, I'm not properly equipped, _I thought, bringing my attention to the door at the end of the hall. I walked towards it and holstered my Pistol so I could open the door while holding the wooden slab in my hand. I opened it and peeked through into the room. Luckily it was clear. I walked through and let the door close behind me.

I was in what looked like a small study. There was a large bookshelf in the middle of the room. Directly to my right was a corner desk. And on it was a Chessboard. Upon closer examination I could see that the game appeared to have ended in a checkmate, and hadn't been disturbed since. _Just like in the game, _I thought with a smirk.

I looked to the right of the chessboard and smiled again, as there was another clip for my Pistol waiting for me there. I quickly took it and put it away, which gave me 79 rounds in 11 clips.

There was a small counter table next to the desk with a lamp and various knick-knacks resting on top, like a mini cannon figurine and such. But one thing caught my eye: a rather conspicuous whistle lying on top of a Crumpled Memo. I first picked up the Whistle; it was a Dog Whistle, and it's used for summoning the Cerberus on the West Terrace. I stored it in my pouch, leaving me with two spaces left in my inventory.

I then brought my attention towards the Memo underneath it. I picked it up and opened to the first page that had writing. Basically it was a message to some unknown person that the writer of the memo had attached a collar to the dog on the West Terrace and that the reader had to use the Dog Whistle to call it to them. I already knew this, so I put it away without a second thought and moved on to the other side of the room.

There was another shelf full of books built into the wall next to a door. The door only had a working doorknob on this side; the other side doesn't have a doorknob. Across the room from the door was another corner desk, but this one was shaped like a quarter-circle. There were various papers scattered about on top of it but I was only looking for one. After some searching I finally found it on the far side of the desk. It was a guide to the herbs in the Arklay Mountain region. I was looking for this in particular because as it was I had no idea how to use the herbs I've picked up, and I was hoping this pamphlet would shine some light on the subject for me.

After reading through the guide on all the different types of herbs I found a section on how to use them. Apparently you need to mash and cut them into a powder on a smooth, even surface and either apply them directly to the wound, or ingest them directly. If you wanted to combine two herbs, all you had to do was combine the two powders together. But you have to make sure to use up all the powder, or else it wouldn't work. So with that new bit of knowledge I stored the pamphlet safely inside my pocket and resumed my search.

_There's only one more thing I need out of this room. Where is it… AHA! There you are, _I thought as my eyes landed on probably the most legendary item in the game- to me, anyways.

The Lighter.

When you first get it, you don't really think much of it. You just think "Oh cool, a lighter. Now I'll be able to light my cigarettes, big whoop." But not only is it deceptively useful, but it also has the most history out of any item in the game. You see, if you examine it, you can clearly see an inscription on the back that reads:

'Don't play with fire! Love, Jessica.'

When I first saw that I was mystified. I thought "Who is Jessica? And who's Lighter is this?" But as I progressed through the game and found more Files, I began to see a recurring name.

Trevor.

Once I found enough evidence I came to the conclusion that this 'Jessica' person's last name is Trevor, and she had a daughter name Lisa, and a husband named George. And then, way later in the game, I found a certain diary of a certain architect that designed and built a certain mansion. In it was a passage that talked how he lost the LIGHTER that Jessica gave him as a gift.

That's right. This Lighter is the very same Lighter that once belonged to George Trevor.

I slowly reached out and touched it. It felt cool to the touch, which is ironic when you consider it's flame-producing qualities. I gently wrapped my fingers around it, almost afraid it would break if I was too rough with it. I brought it up to eye level and flicked open the top. There was a simple striking wheel set on top of a piece of flint, with a ridged metal piece surrounding the wick in the center. I quickly turned the wheel, making a flame appear on the top and instantly bringing warmth to my face and hands, which were both mere inches away. While the flame was still lit I slowly turned the Lighter around and looked at the back. Sure enough, there was an inscription written in fine cursive:

'Don't play with fire! Love, Jessica.'

That settled it; this was DEFINITELY George Trevor's Lighter. I can't even begin to explain how I felt at that moment. I couldn't believe I was actually holding it in my hand! It was one of the most surreal moments of my life. I slowly stroked the smooth brass, shivering as I felt the cool metal glide across my fingertips. I know it probably sounds weird that I'm practically shooting ropes because of a Lighter, but trust me; this was a great moment for me.

I felt my finger starting to get overheated so I quickly flipped the cover back over; closing the Lighter and extinguishing the flame at the same time. Without further hesitation I pocketed the Lighter, leaving me with only one space left in my inventory. I then walked over to the door that only had one doorknob and walked through.

I found myself back in the Stairway. Remember the door I mentioned, that was missing a doorknob? Yeah, I came out of that one. I was facing the long hallway that branched off into another short hallway at the end. I ran down to the end and turned the corner. Sure enough, there was a door about five feet in front of me. I walked up to it and walked through.

I found myself in a small, dark room. There were a bunch of Green and Red Herbs at my feet, but I didn't pick up any yet. There were a few chairs against the walls, and a fireplace in front of me. There was a door on the wall to my right. It needed the Helmet Key, which I won't get until WAY later in the game. So I left it alone.

I brought my attention back to the fireplace. It was unlit, but had plenty of firewood in it. This was the reason I had to go back and get the Lighter. Speaking of which, I took it out and flipped it open. Once again, I turned the wheel, lighting the wick on top. I quickly brought it under the logs and held the flame under them until they finally caught fire. This must have been a particularly volatile type of wood because within seconds the entire bundle was roaring with fire. The room instantly became MUCH brighter. I could feel the intense heat traveling out towards me, and up through the chimney. I looked above the fireplace at a metal relief built into it. The relief must have been directly connected to the fireplace because after a few minutes of waiting the lines carved into the relief glowed red in the intense heat.

I brought the wooden slab up to eye level. I opened it and properly positioned the paper on the inside. I brought the slab up and fitted it into the relief, the lines being burned into the paper. After a few seconds I removed the slab from the relief and gazed upon the paper. I then pumped my fist in triumph; it had worked.

I now had a complete map of the 2nd floor.

The lines carved into the relief were actually a map for the second floor, and I just had to burn it into this piece of paper, and voila! I now have another map. I don't really need it, seeing as how I know this game like the back of my hand, but I figured it would be useful for figuring out where to go next. So I rolled it up and put it in the same pouch as the 1st floor map. I then turned around and picked up a Green and Red Herb on the way out, then left.

I walked back down the stairs in the Stairway, Herbs in hand. I went back into the Safe Room and walked over to the table I had set up, setting the Herbs down on it. _Better start practicing, _I thought. I brought out my Balisong knife and flipped it open. This time I wasn't in a hurry, so I did a complicated move to amuse myself. I read that the only part of a Herb worth using was the leaves, so I plucked all the leaves off of both plants and discarded the useless stalks. I then sorted all the leaves into two piles; a pile of Green Herbs, and a pile of Red. It took some time, but I was eventually able to chop up all the leaves into a powder with my knife. The leaves seemed to dry out very quickly after being separated from the rest of the plant, so it made it a lot easier. I then took both piles of powder and mixed them together the best I could. Finally, I had the final product: a Green + Red Herb combination. _That was a lot simpler than I thought it would be, _I thought.

I then looked through the supplies scattered about and managed to find some Zip-Loc baggies. I found it rather strange that they just had these things laying around in an old supply closet, but I wasn't complaining. I quickly pushed all the powder into the bag and zipped it shut. I opened the Item Box next to me and put the Herb combination in one of the slots, marking it with my sharpie. I didn't keep the Herb because I already had a First Aid Spray on me; that should be enough. I took out the Lighter and put it in another box, once again marking it with my pen. I didn't have to use it for a while, so I figured I could just come back for it when I need it. This left me with two open spaces in my inventory. Having finished my business I closed the crate and walked back out of the room.

I walked up the stairs and around the corner to my right, coming up to the door that I previously wedged open with a step-ladder. I opened it and walked through into the creepy dark hallway.

With no other destination available I walked over to the left, around the corner and into the next hallway. This one was pretty unremarkable, except for one feature: a set of metal double doors on the right hand wall. This led to a room in the middle of the U. I walked down the hall and around the next corner, going through the drape covered door way into the last hallway. This one was a bit more interesting.

There was a door on the left wall a few feet in front of the door way. To the right of the door way was a small dresser unit, with some fine china on it. One of the dishes was broken; the ceramic scattered all over the floor. At the end of the hall was a doorway; my destination. I couldn't go into the door on my left; it required the Armor Key. So with that I walked across the dark hall to the door. I quickly opened it and stepped through to the other side.

I found myself back in the Main Hall. Remember the door I unlocked before going into the Art Room? Yeah, I came out of that one. I walked across the balcony to the other side of the room and walked through the set of double doors.

I was back in the area above the Dining Room, on the second floor. I leaned over the railing to look down at the room. I could still see the fire burning strongly, and the broken remains of the statue I pushed over the edge of the balcony earlier. I walked around the banister to the right, to a set of doors side-by-side to each other. The one on the right led to the room where I got the Peridot Arrow, and the one on the left was the one I'm going through. I took out the Sword Key and fitted it into the lock before turning it to the right, the resounding CLICK sounding shortly afterwards. I pocketed the key and pulled my Pistol out of its holster before creeping through the door, trying to make as little noise as possible out of fear of alerting what was on the other side…

**AN: **Done! Sorry it's so short; I couldn't think of a better place to end it. I'm going to be honest with y'all, I feel a LOT better about this chapter than I did with the previous one. Please tell me what you think. And I have a question: Am I being descriptive enough? Should I add more detail to the description of the rooms, or something else? Or is it fine as is? Please tell me your opinions in a review, as well as your opinion on the rest of the story. Thanks a billion my schniggies! See ya next time. :D


	8. Chapter 7: The Imitation and Armor Key

Surviving: Resident Evil Remake

**AN: **BOOM. Here we go, another chapter of S:RER comin at ya! Oh, and HAPPY NEW YEARZ! 'Tis 2014 now, WOOT!

_Italics: _My thoughts

"Quotes:" Speaking Aloud

**Bold: **Author's Note

'Apostrophe:' Writings and Inscriptions

Chapter 7: The Imitation and Armor Keys

Upon walking through the door all I could see was a wall about two feet in front of me. I looked to the right- another wall. I looked to the left- FINALLY. To my left was a short hallway- about five feet- that turned to the right at the end, which opened up into a stairway. There was also a door to my left- at the end of the short hallway. I could see it was an old door, so I walked over and opened it with the Old Key. Again, half of the key broke off in the lock, rendering it useless. This left me with three spaces left.

My attention was then drawn back to the matter at hand- the three zombies that were in this room. Now bear with me here- this room is SUPER hard to describe, so I apologize in advance for any confusion. The room next to the Old door was rectangular. The entire center was taken up by a stairway, which was surrounded by a banister. The banister only had an opening on the other side of the room. There was a hallway next to the opening that extended about 15 feet back. It had a door on the left wall and a door at the end. So all I had to do to get down the stairs was walk around the banister to get to the other side. There was only one problem…

There were three zombies in the way.

There was one on the far side of the rectangular banister, one down the hallway, and one downstairs. _This is gonna take up a lot of ammo, _I thought with a sad frown. I decided to take them on one at a time, as they came at me. The pathways were narrow enough to only allow one person at a time, and the gunshots would be enough to alert all the zombies in the room.

I raised my pistol and fired at the one on the far side of the banister. Obviously it noticed a bullet impacting against its skull, so it began shambling around the corner of the banister at me. It took five shots in total to stun it and make it fall to the ground, at which point I ran up and curb stomped its head into paste.

By now the second zombie had walked out of the hallway and was walking around the banister at me. I backpedaled to the hallway I came from, to give myself more room. I turned back around and opened fire on the zombie, disintegrating its head seven shots later. I could hear the third zombie slowly ascending the stairs at this point, so I took the time to reload before it reached the top. I took a clip out of my Ammo Box- _My last one! _I thought with a jolt. _I'm going to have to learn how to reload my clips after this… _Anyways, I reloaded the pistol with the fresh clip and put the other one in the Ammo Box.

By now the third and last zombie had reached the top of the stairs and was making its way around the banister. I aimed at it and began firing. It didn't even reach the corner of the banister before its head exploded and the body slumped to the ground. I had expelled six shots before its head exploded, which left me with 40 shots left. _I'm running out fast, _I thought with a frown.

I decided I needed to get to the Safe room, so I could reload all of my clips. I ran around the banister- almost tripping over one of the bodies as I went- and ran down the stairs. I ran around the banister at the bottom intending on going in the door on the left wall- only to stop in my tracks. There was a zombie body on the ground. Luckily it wasn't too far into the mutation process. I could tell because its skin was still a sickly brown color, rather than the crimson red color I'd grown to dread. I didn't waste any time- I walked up to it and stomped on its head as hard as I could- the feel of its head giving out underneath my heel resonating throughout my entire being. I shook the feeling off and turned around. I walked back to the door under the stairs and walked through.

I found myself in a small square room. It was obviously a drug room, on account of the shelf against the left wall with all sorts of medical equipment, and the armoire against the right wall with all sorts of drugs and medicines on its shelves. In the corner next to the armoire- directly to my right- was an Item Box. Against the far wall was a bed in the right corner and a desk with a Typewriter on it in the left corner. There was a Typewriter and an Item Box in this room, which made it a Safe Room- the Drug Room to be exact._ Alright, _I thought with a happy smile, _I've secured another Safe Room. _

I took out my Ammo Box and set it onto the Item Box to my right. I opened the Ammo Box and removed all the Pistol mags, and then I set the box aside. I also took the magazine out of my Pistol and put it with the rest. Through trial and error, and a lot of time, I figured out how to take the bullets out of a Pistol mag, and how to put them back in. I used my new found knowledge to combine the ammo of all my clips into two clips, both of them were fresh. I simply put the empty clips on the armoire and put the full ones back into the Ammo Box.

I then put the Ammo Box back into my Inventory and opened up the Item Box. My eyes widened. _All the stuff I put in the other one is in here, _I thought,_ so the Item boxes ARE still four-dimensional! Good, I was worried I'd have to run back and forth from box to box…_ I reached in and opened the box marked 'Ink Ribbons.' I pulled one out- the one with only one use left. I brought it over to the Typewriter and used it to type 'Atom / 03 / Drug Room.' The Ink Ribbon no longer had any Ink, so I left the case on the desk. I then walked back to the door and walked out.

Since I wasn't in a rush I took more time to examine this area. It was a simple room with a set of stairs directly in front of me. They began about six feet to my right and went back to the banister room. To my right was a hallway that turned to the right about ten feet in. That hallway went back about 20 feet before ending with a door, and another door on the wall next to it. The door at the end of the hall led to another hallway, while the door on the right wall led to the room where you get the Broken Shotgun. In the game you use the Broken Shotgun to hold down the weights that the working Shotgun is holding down, so that you don't get crushed when you try to leave the room. Unfortunately the door that leads to the Broken Shotgun is locked and needs an Old Key to open, which I don't have. _Guess I'm going to have to go down into the kitchens soon, _I thought with a shudder…

Anyways, I ran up the stairs and around the banister, back into the small hallway I entered from. Remember the Old door I unlocked earlier? That's where I'm headed now. I grabbed the handle and pushed the door open, walking outside and being met with a blast of cool air.

I was outside, on the Western Terrace. Anyone who's been paying attention would know that this is the area I'm supposed to fight the two zombie dogs at. I was really nervous, because I hadn't yet gotten any experience in fighting the zombie dogs, except when I was running from them in the forest…

The Terrace went forward about five feet in front of me. I walked to the railing and looked out into the forest. The only thing I could see was trees, trees, and more trees. I could see a faint movement every once in a while, but other than that there wasn't really anything of note. When I turned back around to walk to the right my foot hit something. I looked down and saw that I had accidentally kicked a small flower box, with about five Green Herbs inside. In the game this was used to heal yourself, but you couldn't take it with you, and it was only good for three uses. But since this wasn't a game anymore, I figured that there's no reason why I shouldn't be able to take them with me. But I didn't, because I needed to conserve space in my inventory.

I walked back to the door and turned to face the railing again. The Terrace extended to the left, all the way to the corner of the Mansion where it turned around the corner. I walked down the path and walked around the corner. The Terrace opened up into a small growing space. I could tell because it was full of plants- most of which were damaged by the weather. It was a pretty large space. There was a small wall separating the walkway with the growing area, which made this room into a sort of Oval shape. The walkway extended past the oval to a door at the end. I walked over to the door and turned the lock- unlocking it from this side. I walked back over to the growing area while digging through my pouches. I finally found the one I was looking for and triumphantly pulled out the Dog Whistle.

I mentally prepared myself. I knew that once I blew this Whistle I would have to fight two T-Virus dogs, one of which had lightning fast reflexes. I realized that I needed something beefier than a Pistol to take both of these things out unscathed, so I holstered my Pistol and un-shouldered my M14. I held the under-barrel of the gun with my left hand while I brought the Dog Whistle up to my lips with my right. After a few tries I figured out the technique and blew, the piercing sound echoing through the night.

After a few minutes of waiting I heard the plants on the balcony rustle. I then heard the sound of chains rattling, and padded feet hitting a concrete floor. I turned back around towards the way I came, and saw it.

It was huge! It was easily the biggest dog I had ever seen. It was a German Shepard dog, and it easily towered over the dog that was running next to it. Both of them were missing chunks of flesh in several places and had milky white eyes. However, the main thing that differentiated the Shepard from the other dog was an expensive-looking collar clamped around its neck. There was a broken chain attached to the back of it, which was where the rattling was coming from.

They quickly rounded the corner of the balcony and charged straight at me, snarling and frothing all the while. The adrenaline that coursed through me in that moment helped me stay calm, and take action rather than panic. I raided the rifle's sights to eye level. I lined up the smaller dog's head in the sights, and fired. Apparently the dogs had much softer skulls, because it only took one bullet to blow its head up in a vibrant display of red. The dog's body instantly rag dolled, its momentum carrying it a few feet before it skidded to a stop. The Shepard stopped about five feet in front of me I wasn't sure why it had stopped, but i wasn't complaining. I lined up the shot and fired. But right as I did the dog used its agility to jump to the side and out of the way of the speeding bullet. And before I could line up another shot the dog was right on top of me.

I was pinned down on the ground with the dog on top of me before I could react. I managed to bring my hands up and close them around its neck before it could clamp its jaws on my throat, but boy was it a struggle. The dog kept trying to shake its head out of my grasp while pushing down at the same time. At first I was trying to suffocate it, but I realized that there was no way I could keep my strength up long enough to choke it to death. I only had one choice: my knife.

I kept my left hand on its neck. I was right handed, so my left arm was considerably weaker than my right. So my strength started ebbing away even faster; I knew it wasn't long before my arm would give out. I had to act fast! I practically shot my right hand down to my sheath and pulled out my knife. I flipped it open into a standard grip and stabbed the dog in the side of the head. The momentum was enough to force the dog off of me, to the left. I quickly rose to a standing position. The dog was merely writhing on the ground, trying to right itself. I walked up and brought my boot down on its head.

The loud CRUNCH-SPLAT pierced through the night air, scattering a few birds from the nearby trees.

The dog lay motionless on the ground. Its head was gone for obvious reasons. The collar fell of the dog's neck and fell to the ground with a CLANK. I quickly reached down and picked it up. It appeared to be an ordinary dog collar, but I knew better. I brought my attention to the front. There was a kind of round emblem on the front. I smirked and pushed on it. It clicked and swung open; a Coin falling out onto the ground. I bent down and picked up the coin while throwing the collar aside. In the game it's called a "coin," but honestly it looks like nothing I've ever seen before. It was a rectangular shape, but with quarter-circles carved out of all of the corners. On the front there was a silver octagonal shape in the center surrounded by purple, and on the back was a silver breastplate surrounded by purple. I put my finger on the breastplate etching and pushed. With a CLICK, a needle-like prong shot out of a previously unseen hole in the bottom. Once the needle had reached its full length two other small needle-like prongs unfolded from the end of the larger prong. Now that the 'coin' was finished transforming, it looked suspiciously like a key. More specifically, it looked like the Armor Key.

But it isn't the Armor Key. It's merely an Imitation of the Armor Key. In the game you're supposed to take the real Armor Key from its indentation and replace it with this fake Key so that you don't get chopped to pieces by the death shield. Unfortunately this Imitation Key can't be used as a real key- otherwise I could have bypassed said deathtrap. _Oh well, _I thought, _No use dwelling over it. _

Luckily I hadn't gotten wounded in the fight against the dogs, so I didn't have to use the Herb Pot next to the door I came in through. I ran back to the door while putting the Imitation Key in my pouches, leaving me with two spaces left. I then remembered that there was no more point in keeping the Dog Whistle, so I took it out and threw it aside, leaving me with three spaces once again. Once I had finished with this I found myself in front of the door I came in through. I opened it and walked back into the Banister room.

Once through the door I immediately ran to the left. Rather than going all the way around the banister, I decided instead to just jump over it. I ran down the stairs and went underneath them. I opened the door to the Safe Room and walked in.

I'd only come in here for one reason: to reload my M14 clips. So once again I took out my Ammo Box and set it on the Item Box, took all the M14 clips out of it, and set the Box aside. I also laid my M14 down and took the clip out of it. Luckily the M14 mags worked the same way the Pistol mags did, so in no time I combined all the ammo to make two fresh mags, and one mag with 14 rounds in it. I loaded the one with 14 rounds into the M14, and slung it over my shoulder once again. Having finished my business in here I then went to the door and walked back into the Banister room.

_Well, _I thought, _I got the Imitation Key. Now what? _I thought about it for a few seconds before my eyes widened and I slapped my forehead in exasperation. _Obviously I should get the real Armor Key next! God I'm retarded…. _

So then I ran back up the stairs, and then I walked down the hallway next to the opening. I bypassed the door on the left (it's locked and needs the Helmet Key to unlock it) in favor of the door at the end of the hall. I could see that it was locked from this side, so I turned the lock and opened it, walking through into a flame-lit room.

I found myself in the torch room again. Remember? The one where the Crimson Head attacked me, and where I got the Peridot Arrow? Yeah, that one. I found myself in the second hallway. I could see the doorway that led to the spot where the Crimson Head used to be to my left, and the hallway that led to the Peridot Arrowhead to my right. I walked to the left and walked through the doorway. I looked down and saw two Green Herbs against the far wall- the ones that I didn't pick up out of fear of filling up my inventory. I bent down and picked them both up, leaving me with only one space left in my inventory. I looked to my left and saw the door that led to the Birdcage room. I looked to the right and saw another door at the other end of the corridor. I walked up to it and walked through, into the room with the scariest deathtrap in video game history.

I found myself in a tight hallway with a staircase right in front of me. The entire area was lit by small light bulbs that lit the room in a gray glow. The staircase went up to the third floor and went straight, without any turns. I looked to the right and saw a small enclosure in the wall that had a knight statue in it. The knight held a shield in front of it. I could see writing on it:

'Death is only the beginning.'

An involuntary shiver ran down my back. _How creepy and ominous can you get, _I thought rhetorically. I walked up the long set of stairs. Once I got to the top I saw that there was a turn to the right about eight feet in front of me. And to my right, in another enclosure, was the most fucked up booby-trap in video game history. It was another knight statue, but this one had a circular shield with razor sharp spikes protruding out the front of it. I could see another inscription on this one:

'Death is the true essence of bliss.'

Another shudder ran down my spine. I hastily carried on, eager to get away from the creepy statue. As I walked I couldn't help but notice a set of tracks built into the ground, beginning at the creepy statue and going down the entire hall… You have no idea how much I was freaking out at this point.

I went around the turn and saw an oddly-shaped hallway. I say oddly-shaped because near the middle there was a large rectangular slab of stone sticking out of the tiled floor. And the walls around this slab were sunken in, making a sort of box around the slab. At the end of the hallway was another statue holding a shield. The hallway turned left and looped around the knight, where I knew there was a door that required the Helmet Key. _Well, I've found all the Helmet Doors in the game, _I thought with a smirk. I walked down the hall, up to the slab. I saw something fitted perfectly into an indentation on the top of the slab. It was the Armor Key! I saw something inscribed underneath the key:

'May whoever take this Emblem find peace in death.'

As much as I loathe to do so, I reached down and plucked the key from the indentation; quickly.

I immediately heard the sound of stone grinding against stone. I looked around and saw that the sunken in walls surrounding the slab were closing in. I looked back down and saw that the slab was also sinking into the ground. Within moments the walls of the hallway were even with the rest, and the slab was even with the rest of the floor. I was then roughly pushed forward by an unstoppable force. I stumbled and quickly turned around to find that the statue at the end of the hall had come forward on its tracks and boxed me in. _I'm trapped, _I thought with horror. A loud, continuous grinding sound then brought my attention toward the end of the hallway I came in from. My eyes widened in pure terror as I saw the statue with the round shield round the corner and start coming towards me. The shield was rapidly spinning, which made the razor sharp spikes coming out of the front all-the-more terrifying. There were thick blades coming from the sides of it. It was taking up the entire hallway! I knew there was no way past it; I had to replace the Key! So I rummaged through my pouches and practically ripped the Imitation Key out in my panic. I quickly bent down and placed the fake key into the indentation.

The effect was instantaneous. In an instant, all the movement and all the noise stopped. The room was completely silent. Then a loud CLICK pierced through the silence and startled me into tearing my eyes away from the fake key. As I brought my eyes back up the stone noise started again. I could see the slab rising back up from the ground, and the walls sinking back again. I could see the statue behind me sliding back into its place against the wall, and I could see the deathly statue quickly sliding back to the enclosure it came from. I could see that its shield had stopped spinning and the blades had retracted. As the statue backed around the corner and out of sight I released a tremendous breath that I hadn't even known I was holding. My racing heart started to slow down, and my perspiration immediately started going away. I breathed heavily in an attempt to bring my stuttering organ under control. (I meant my heart you pervs!)

I'd always hated that part while playing the game. Every other part in the game I grew used to at some point, meaning that it didn't faze me anymore. But not this one. This one will always be at the tippy-top of my list of freaky moments in video games.

Anyways, I triumphantly raised my right hand up to eye level and gazed upon the glorious Armor Key. Rather than a needle-like prong of cheap metal like the other one had, this one had a sturdy piece and a more convincing unlocking mechanism. As for the head piece, it was exactly the same as the 'coin.' And with that I triumphantly pocketed the Armor Key and headed back the way I came. I went around the corner, past the Knight statue (I may or may not have stuck my tongue out at it on the way by,) down the stairs, and out the door.

I was back in the Arrowhead room. Directly ahead of me was the door to the birdcage room, and to the left of said door was the doorway that led to the rest of this room. I went through that doorway. I turned to the left and walked halfway down the short corridor to the door that led to the banister room, and walked through it.

I walked down the hallway and went down the stairs. I jogged behind the stairs and went through the Drug Room door.

I went all the way back here to organize my thoughts, figure out where to go next, and to put away the Green Herbs I picked up. _Okay, I've got the Armor Key. Where should I go next? I've got a lot of options to choose from now. I could go get the Death Mask from the Garden, I could get an Old Key from the Kitchen and use it to get the Broken Shotgun, I could get the Death Mask from the Armor Room, I could use previously stated Old Key to get the Wind Crest, or I could go save Richard. Hmm… I think I'll go save Richard, just to get it out of the way. Then I'll get the Broken Shotgun. _Having made my decision I opened the chest and put the Green Herbs and Sword Key into it. _I won't need it until I come back here, _I reasoned. I then took out the Ink Ribbon and used it to save again (Atom / 04 / Drug Room,) and then I left the room.

I went up the steps and hopped over the banister to the small hallway that led to the Dining Room. I went through the door into the balcony over the Dining Room. I quickly walked through it to the double doors and walked through them, into the Main Hall.

Once in the main hall I walked over to the other side, up to the door that led to the dark U shaped hallway. I walked through and shut the door behind me.

My eyes were immediately drawn to the door on the right wall, about seven feet in front of me. Across from it was the shelf with the broken china on it. I walked up to the door, pulling out my Armor Key along the way. I unlocked the door with a satisfying CLICK and walked through.

I found myself in the Pillar Room. Look it up; that's actually what it's called on the Wiki. The room is named after the massive pillar that connects to the ceiling and floor. The room is a simple hallway in an L shape. But at the inner corner is a pillar and a separate inner path that goes around it. I always found this room rather queer.

My musings were interrupted by a pain-filled gasp coming from around the corner. A voice followed afterwards in a reassuring tone. _Finally, some non-zombified life forms! Thank god, I was getting tired of zombies… _As I approached the pillar I should have realized that Rebecca shouldn't even be here, only Richard. And that the voice who was whispering encouraging words to the pained voice was MALE, which didn't make any sense. But in my excitement to see someone who wasn't a zombie it didn't even cross my mind.

When I went around the corner the only thing I managed to see was a head of long, blonde hair before I heard a frightened shriek and instinctively jumped back around the corner from whence I came. _That's new, _I thought with an amused smirk. I called out in my best reassuring tone "It's okay! Everything's alright! My name is Atom Fischer, I'm a member of S.T.a.R.S. Alpha Team. I'm here with the rest of my team to investigate this mansion. Are you, by any chance, Rebecca Chambers?" But as I finished saying this a thought crossed into my head. _Wait a minute, that wasn't a female voice that screamed, or that was reassuring the pain-filled voice. What the- _My thoughts were once again interrupted by a small, timid voice that sounded from around the corner. "Atom? Is that you," It asked with a hope-filled voice.

My eyes widened to the size of saucers. _I KNOW THAT VOICE, _I thought as I hurriedly ran around the corner.

And instead of seeing Rebecca Chambers and Richard Aikens like it was supposed to be, I instead saw my cousin Tanner Trackman crouched over my Brother Tayne's prone body.

* * *

**AN: **OHHHHH SHIT! The plot thickens! XD Now the mysterious last part of my summary is finally about to come into fruition. The next chapter (possibly the one after that too) will be from Tayne and Tanner's POVs. Sorry to leave you guys with a cliffhanger, but that's not really the most surprising thing in the world on . So until next time, PEACE OUT!


	9. Chapter 8: Meeting

Surviving: Resident Evil Remake

**AN:** Heya guys! For this chapter I'm gonna do a flashback. It's going to be from Tanner Trackman and Tayne Fischer's POV's, and it's going to explain how they got trapped in the game with Atom. So yeah, without further ado, here we go!

_Italics: _My Thoughts

"Quotes:" Speaking Aloud

**Bold: **Author's Note

'Apostrophe:' Inscriptions and Writing

Chapter 8: Meeting

(Tayne's POV)

"I hope mom's still there," my dad commented next to me.

I looked at him and asked "Huh? Why wouldn't she be?"

He was quick to reply "No there's no reason, I just hope she didn't go to the store while we were gone or something."

I rolled my eyes and quipped "If I had a nickel for every time you've been worried that mom wouldn't be there when we got home." He just chuckled and focused on the road, forcing us into a comfortable silence. My dad's name is Michael Hughes, and my mom's name is Tennielle. And yes, they are still married. My dad loves my mom very much, and vice-versa, so she's usually all he thinks about.

Oh wow, I haven't even introduced myself yet, have I? Well, here goes. My name is Tayne Fischer. I'm a part of a family of four. I just said who my mom and dad were, and I also have a younger brother named Atom, who's four years younger than me. He's completely legit, by that I mean he's not a step-bro, or a half-bro or something like that. I'm 20 years old and still live with my family out in the outskirts of town. In order to protect myself against hackers, I will not iterate which town I live in. Sorry.

I'd just gotten done working at the Farm Sanctuary. The Farm Sanctuary is a non-profit organization (not like the NFL.) Its sole purpose is to give farm-raised animals a place to live, and be happy whilst doing so. I find it absolutely APPALLING what our modern day government allows the meat industry to do. Have you ever heard of a Veal Crate? Look it up; viewer discretion advised. And other than that, I advise all who read this (vegetarians and vegans excluded) to LEGITIMATELY look into what you're eating. Not only is it EXTREMELY toxic to eat as much meat as an average American does, but the meat industry is an extremely cruel and corrupt business. Anyways, I digress.

My dad and I (my dad also works at the Farm Sanctuary) had just gotten off of work and were heading home at the time of this conversation. After a few more unimportant conversations we finally pulled into the driveway of our house. Unfortunately, my mom's car wasn't in the driveway.

"Shit! We missed her," my dad exclaimed.

"Well, let's go see if Atom knows where she went. He probably doesn't…" Atom tends to not pay attention to anything else when he's '_in the zone,'_ so to speak. Of course, by that I mean video gaming. So usually he doesn't pay attention when someone leaves and they tell him where they're going, hence my word usage.

Dad and I got out of the car and walked up to the front door. Dad unlocked it and we both filed inside. The silence was really unnerving; usually there was the faint sound of explosions and mayhem that occurs when one plays Saints Row 4. But there was nothing. Not a peep. _Maybe he took a nap, _I reasoned with myself. _Or__, he could have gone with mom, wherever she went. _

"Oh, here we go," dad said triumphantly, holding up a piece of paper. He read it aloud, it said:

"Matt + Tiff (my aunt and uncle) called and invited us over, I decided to go early. Tanner should be over soon; he wanted to hang out with the boys. Meet me over there once you get home. I love you very much!

-Tennielle"

"Aw man, I was really hoping she'd be home when I got here. But why didn't she call us," dad wondered.

"She probably left right as we left work," I answered. "So are you going to head over there right now," I asked.

"Yeah, I'm just going to go get ready," he answered, just before giving me a bear hug. "Just in case I don't see you again before I leave," he answered to my inquisitive look. I nodded. "Okay, see you," I replied as he walked into his room. I then walked down the small hallway in my house, into my room. I had expected to see Atom playing on my computer, but what I saw sent a chill down my back.

He wasn't in there.

I knew that Atom is always playing some sort of game whenever I get off work. But this was problematic; if he wasn't in our room, then where the hell was he!?

I turned around, and just when I was about to run to dad's room and confess my worries something caught my attention; a faint humming sound. My attention having been snagged by the strange sound, I turned back around and began searching the room. It took me a few minutes, but I finally found the source.

It was the strangest looking Game Cube I'd ever seen in my life.

"What fucking galaxy is this from," I wondered aloud. It must have been some new model; one I hadn't heard about. That's what I thought at the time, anyway. What set it apart from other Game Cubes was the odd slit at the top that looked suspiciously like a fingerprint scanner, the fact that there was only one cable port in the back; the one for the TV cable, and its color scheme. It was pitch black without any sort of logo, sticker, or warning on it; nothing that told me who made it, what it was, or how to use it. It was obviously on, judging from the humming originating from it, as well as the orange power light glowing on the front.

On closer inspection I could clearly see an etching on the top, just underneath the slit (fingerprint scanner?) It read:

'Insert the disc, and then hold your thumb on the slit.'

I cocked an eyebrow in utter bafflement. _What in the fuck, _I thought. _What the hell was Nintendo thinking with this thing? I don't even see how it's on; it doesn't even have a power box for fuck's sake! And what was wrong with the power button? Did Nintendo honestly think this would sell? A Game Cube that you turn on with your thumbprint? How are you even supposed to turn it off? Maybe by scanning your thumb again? _

I thought about this. On one hand it could potentially glitch out the system, and on the other it could turn off the game as well. I heard dad leaving his room and yelling goodbye at me, and I yelled it back distractedly. Just as I heard dad open and close the front door I thought _fuck it, _and rested my thumb on the slit in an attempt to turn it off.

One word: OW.

The instant I rested my thumb on the console I knew I'd made a mistake, for my whole body was suddenly in the worst agony I could have ever imagined. It felt like my entire being was being ripped to pieces, bit by bit, and being rearranged somewhere else. Where that somewhere else was, I didn't know. After what felt like an eternity, but was likely only a few moments, the pain became too much and I lost consciousness.

(Tanner's POV)

"Hey Tanner," my dad called up at me from downstairs.

"Yeah," I replied, trying to talk to him and play my Play Station at the same time.

"We just called the Hughes' and invited them over. Do you want to go over to their house and hang with Tayne and Atom while the adults hang out here," he asked.

I thought it over. _If I stay here then I can play Crash Team Racing some more, but if I go over to Tayne and Atom's then I could hang with them. Wait, why am I even contemplating this? _Having made my decision I called back "Alright, I'll go over there. Just let me pack up my computer!"

"Alright," he called in confirmation. I heard his steps grow fainter as he walked away.

My name is Tanner Trackman. My dad, whom I was just talking to, is named Matt, and is married to Tiffany; my mother. And yes, they're still married. Unlike most modern-day couples they still love each other very much, and hopefully always will. It's just the three of us in my family; I have no siblings. But I do have two best friends: my cousins, Tayne and Atom Hughes. With how much time I spend with them they might as well be my brothers.

I quickly flew around the room, gathering up my laptop and all of its cords and putting it all in my green plaid messenger bag. In the midst of all the hustle I accidentally bumped my NES shelf and knocked a cartridge down. I quickly bent down and picked it up, examining it for any damage. Luckily it didn't seem to have gained any injuries in the kerfuffle. I wiped a bit of dust off almost lovingly and replaced it on the shelf.

You see, I am an NES collector. I collect NES games and accessories, and everything in between. And I'd say I'm doing pretty well; my collection is steadily growing every week. The NES is by far my favorite console of all time; I'm a total retro gamer. I have a lot of respect for the oldies.

As I put the last of my laptop cords into the bag I noticed that my wilderness survival knife was tangled up in some of the cords. I was in too much of a hurry to untangle them, so I just dropped the bundle in the bag. _After all, _I reasoned, _I'm not going to go anywhere except their house. I'm not going out into public or anything. _So I shouldered the bag and ran out the door. I got in my car and pulled out of the driveway, turning right and driving off. As I drove off I couldn't help but look in the rear view mirror and see my Aunt Tennielle pulling into the driveway…

I pulled into the Hughes' driveway about fifteen minutes later. As I stopped the car and got out I noticed my uncle Mike walking out the front door and closing it behind him. I walked up just as Mike raised his head and saw me.

"Oh, hey Tanner! What's up," he asked me.

"Not much, Tennielle's over at my house. I came over here to hang with Atom and Tayne. Are they here," I asked.

"Yep, they're probably in their room, playing their computer. I was actually just leaving for your house. I'll be back later. Have fun!" He merrily waved at me as he walked past me and to his car. He got in it and pulled out of the driveway, honking and waving as he pulled out of sight. I then turned around and walked inside of the curiously quiet house.

I say curiously quiet because usually when I walk in here, I can hear the faint sound of voices, mice clicking, and occasionally the sound of video games. I couldn't hear any of those sounds; in fact, I couldn't hear anything. That means they're definitely not in the house. _They're probably out back, _I thought. _But just to make sure, I'm going to check the room. _So I walked through the house and into their room.

I walked in and instantly noticed that they're not here. _That proves it; they're not in the house. _But just before I turned around to look outside I noticed a faint humming sound coming from somewhere in the room. My curiosity peaked, I couldn't help but investigate. I quickly found out that it was coming from a very peculiar looking Game Cube. It was, by far, the strangest looking version of a Game Cube I'd ever seen. "What fucking universe is this from," I wondered aloud.

It was… You know what, I'm sure that Tayne and Atom have explained it enough times already, so I'm not going to bother with a description. However, I will say that I couldn't help but notice a certain etching on the lid, just underneath the thumbprint scanner. It read:

_Insert the disc, and then hold your thumb on the slit. _

_Umm…. Okay? What the fuck? What kind of drugs were they on when they made this thing? Was this thing even made by a human being?! I mean, why isn't there a power box? How is it even being powered right now?! Plus, how are you supposed to turn it off? By scanning your thumb again? _

I then started thinking. _Eh, I might as well. I mean Tayne and Atom probably left it on by accident. I might as well save the energy. _

So, with a shrug of my shoulders, I rested my thumb on the slit.

(Tayne's POV)

I have no idea how long I was out, but the next thing I knew, I was waking up on a cold, hard ground. For a few seconds I wondered where I was, and what happened that made me pass out on a wood floor.

_Wait, wood?! _

My eyes flew open. Sure enough, I was lying on a wooden floor. I lifted my head up and looked around. _What the fucking eff?!_ I tried to rise to my feet in a hurry, but I was still a little dizzy, so I could only get on my knees without falling over. I looked around the room I'd found myself in blearily. I was in a very dark room. The only light was the moonlight seeping through windows on the ceiling. The walls, floor, ceiling, and support pillars were all made of wood. It was obviously meant to be some sort of storage area, judging by all the crates and shelving units scattered all about the corners. _Where the fack am I?!_ Obviously I was pretty freaking scared by this point. I then tried to remember what happened that made me pass out.

_Okay, I remember getting home from work and walking into my room… I remember that I was concerned because Atom wasn't anywhere to be found, and then I got sidetracked by a humming noise. I remember… I remember finding that Game Cube… and trying to turn it off… _

My eyes widened. _And then I went through that horrible agony! And the next thing I know… I'm here! This doesn't make any sense. How could this happen? How could a Game Cube bring me HERE?! Where ever this is… Come to think of it, where the fuck am I? _I was about to look around, but my attention got stolen away by my new outfit.

_Oh my god, I'm wearing Chris Redfield's uniform! _It wasn't the uniform he wore in the REmake. It was closer to the uniform he wore in RE6. Remember the long-sleeved BSAA gear? Yeah, that one. It was almost completely identical! The only difference I could see was a patch on my right shoulder. It read:

S.T.a.R.S.

Special Tactics and rescue Service

My eyes widened to the size of saucers. _Holy shit, I'm in Resident Evil Remake. _

I clutched my chest with my gloved hand. _Okay, get a grip Tayne. You need to go over the facts. You touched a freaky Game Cube, got knocked out, and then woke up in the mansion in Resident Evil Remake, in a creepy dark attic… Wait. _

I looked around the room again. _Where in the mansion am I? Let's see… completely wooden room, creepy dark atmosphere, crates in the corners… It's on the tip of my tongue! But wha- _

As I was talking I had been raking my eyes over the room, but my mind screeched to a halt at the sight of something on the ground a few feet in front of me. It looked like some sort of ratty blanket at first, but upon closer inspection I realized that it's anything but a blanket. It's something far more sinister; something that instantly made it click as to which room I'm in.

It was a MASSIVE snake skin.

_Creepy wooden room, dark atmosphere, GIANT SNAKE SKIN, that could only mean I'm in-_

My terrified musings were interrupted by a loud chilling HISSS coming from directly behind me.

"-Yawn's Lair." I finished my thoughts aloud, gripped in absolute terror.

I ever-so-slowly turned my torso to the right, looking behind me. All I could see was a giant wide open mouth directly behind me, venom dripping from two massive fangs hanging from the top.

Needless to say, I got the hell out of dodge while I still could.

I immediately sprinted forward. I didn't know exactly where I was going. All I knew was that I needed to get away from the GIANT FREAKIN SNAKE that was hissing at my retreating back. Luckily, I noticed a door about ten feet in front of me. I didn't remember exactly where it went, but I knew that anywhere was better than where I was. Unfortunately, since I was facing away from Yawn (the snake,) I wasn't able to dodge him (?) when he reared back and lunged at me. The next thing I knew, I was on the ground and a searing pain had taken over my entire left arm.

"AUUUUGH," I screamed at the top of my lungs in utter agony. It wasn't as bad as when I got knocked out, but it still hurt pretty fucking bad! I rolled over onto my back and looked up at my terrifying assaulter, only to see it rearing back for another strike! I quickly braced my legs and pushed against the ground with all my might. The push made me slide a few feet backwards and dodge Yawn's deadly attack by a hair's breadth. I quickly got to my feet and turned back around. I sprinted the remaining feet and wrenched the door open. I ran through and couldn't help but notice the door give off a faint CLICK as it shut behind me, almost like it locked itself.

I was in a small room that was lit by a light bulb that hung over my head. It was a small space with a door in front of me, down a small flight of steps. There was also a very dark corridor through a doorway to the right of the door I was facing. As I examined the room I suddenly became aware of a horrible feeling spreading from my arm, and a wooziness that made me lean against the wall to my left, clutching my arm all the while. It felt like my whole left arm was burning! And it felt like it was spreading.

Dreading to do so, I reluctantly looked down at my left arm. I winced. I had a MASSIVE gash on my upper arm. _Yawn must have grazed me while I was trying to run. Wait a minute…_ _The venom! _I thought with horror. _If you get hit a single time fighting the snake in the game you get poisoned. And last time I checked, I don't have any Serum on me. So that means I need to get to the Drug Room ASAP. _So with that I shakily stood up straight and stumbled towards the door. As I passed by the dark doorway I heard a hair-raising moan come from within, followed by slow footsteps steadily coming closer… I ran through the door as fast as I could.

I was in the pillar room. You know, the room where you meet Richard and Rebecca? Yeah, that one. There was only one problem though. _Where's Rebecca and Richard? _I thought. But a jolt of pain from my arm reminded me of the urgency of my situation. I quickly walked around the corner of the room towards the other door. I tried the handle only for my eyes to widen in even more horror. _IT'S LOCKED?! Why the flying fuck is the door locked?! _I pondered about this for a second before I slapped my hand against my forehead. _Of course! You need the Armor Key to unlock this door! I'm fucking locked in here with poison running through my blood veins and no way to cure it! _As the hopelessness of my situation crashed down on me it only made me feel even woozier. _I wonder how much longer I've got left, _I thought. I walked back the way I came with the intention of going back to the other room, only to remember that there's a zombie in there, and I'm unarmed. _Yeah, that'll go down well, _I thought sarcastically.

As I leaned against the left hand wall in exhaustion something dug into my side. _OUCH, _I thought. _What the he-_ I cut my thoughts off when I saw the two items strapped to my belt. I had a sheath strapped to my left hip, which had my wooden Balisong Knife in it! It's very sturdy; the best Balisong Knife I've seen yet. And strapped to my right thigh was a Pistol Holster, with a USP .45 in it! I'd never seen it before in my life; last time I'd checked, I definitely didn't own a gun. So where did this come from? _The game must be giving me a chance to defend myself, _I thought, eyes growing wide with comprehension.

As I slumped down against the ground from fatigue I pondered my thoughts as I first entered this room. _Where are Rebecca and Richard? They should be right here! Unless you're playing as Jill in the game, in which case you only find Richard here. But where is he? _I slowly lay down on my back while thinking. And as I realized the significance of the spot I'm lying on, and thought about my poisoned wound, I realized why Richard wasn't here.

_I'm Richard. _

Just before I could ponder about this longer I heard a loud thump on the other side of the door I came in through, almost like a body crashing to the ground. And then, a few seconds later, the door opened. I instantly thought it was the zombie that was down that dark hallway, so I reached down and gripped the handle of my pistol for the first time. I hastily slid it out of the holster and raised it towards the door, aiming down the sights. But the familiarity of the face that I lined up in the sights instantly made me drop my hand back down to my side. I'd recognize that face anywhere. I called out to him from my position on the ground, hopefully. I said:

"Tanner?"

(Tanner's POV)

(About five minutes Earlier)

"Ugh," I called out the instant I woke. I opened my eyes slowly and say that I was lying on a hard wood floor. I could see something a few feet in front of me, but it was hard to see with one eye, as the other was pressed against the dusty floorboards. I tiredly rolled further onto my side and looked more closely. I could see that it was a table leg now that I could use my other eye. I raised my head off of the ground, my mind a mess. _What the fudge? _I thought, _what is this? _I slowly raised myself onto my knees, but I couldn't get any higher than that on account of my lingering dizziness. I blearily looked around the room I was in. It was incredibly dark, but I could make out faint details. I could see a door behind me, a few shelves lined up against the walls in front of me, and a small table set up in the middle of the room to my left. Unfortunately I couldn't make out any more than that, because the room was so dark.

Obviously I was a little peeved at this point. _What is this? _I asked myself again. _WHERE is this?! WHERE AM I?! And why does it all seem so familiar? _My dizziness had almost completely faded by this point, so I was finally able to rise to my legs. As I rose I felt a weight on my right shoulder. I reached up and felt it; it was a strap. I followed it down and felt the familiar material of my messenger bag. _Well, _I thought, _at least this made it in with me,_ _wherever this is…_

But before I could further ponder my whereabouts I heard a pain-filled scream come from nearby that damn-near made me jump ten feet in the air! _WHAT the FUCK WAS THAT!? It sounded like it same from outside this door, _I thought, walking up to the only other door in the room. I had planned on weighing my options before potentially going through, but a chilling moan from somewhere in the room I was in decided for me, and I instinctively opened the door and walked through.

I found myself in an EXTREMELY dark hallway that was only lit by a flickering oil lamp next to the wall on my left. On my right was a hallway that extended into a significantly more lit area. I could see a figure in front of me, in the middle of the hallway. It appeared to be a man, but I couldn't tell anything more than that. The light level was just too low. But the weird thing was that he wasn't doing anything; he was just standing there.

I then saw another figure outside of the hallway stumble into view. I couldn't see it very clearly from this distance but it appeared to be clutching its arm and stumbling to a door out of view. He stumbled out of view and a few seconds later I heard a VERY loud moan coming from the statue-like figure in front of me, followed by footsteps as it started walking away from me, towards the second figure. This must have alerted him, because the next thing I heard was a door being opened and closed. _He must have left, _I thought.

I brought my attention back to the man in front of me. Now that the other man was gone he was back to simply standing there, doing nothing. I couldn't help but wonder, _What's he waiting for? _I called out to him "Excuse me sir, but could you tell me where I am?" The next thing I knew the man had made another loud moan, only THIS particular one sounded significantly inhuman. _Almost like a… _The man had turned around and started towards me, arms outstretched at this point. When he got close enough for me to be able to see his face, I damn near had a heart attack.

_Cracked rotting skin, pupil-less eyeballs, inhuman moans… FUCKING ZOMBIE! _

Having come to terms with what it was I quickly realized I needed a weapon. I patted my pockets and realized with horror that I didn't have anything on me! _Is this really how it ends? Chewed to pieces by a walking corpse? _And then, with a jolt, I remembered my messenger bag. _MY KNIFE! _The zombie was about five feet away by now, I needed to act fast! I quickly un-shouldered my bag and rifled through it, locating my knife in record time. I untangled it from the cords and held it in a reverse grip, just as the zombie reached me. Its hands latched onto my shoulders and just before it could take a bite out of my jugular, I brought my knife down on its head as hard as I could.

Luckily it was enough force, as the blade went all the way into its skull, down to the wooden hilt. The zombie was instantly killed, and fell backwards, creating a resonating THUMP.

My eyes were wide with terror. _Jesus Christ, WHAT THE FUCKIN HELL?! Since when did zombies fucking EXIST?! And what is this place? _In order to distract myself from the fact that I'd just killed something I pondered about my whereabouts.

_What is it about this place that just SCREAMS familiar? All of this atmosphere, and the rooms themselves, all seem VERY familiar. Where have I seen all this before… _Before I could ponder this any further I was jolted back into action by a faint moan coming from the other side of the door I came from. I quickly reached down and, with all my might, yanked my knife out of the zombie's head. The knife came out with a sickening squelch, a spurt of blood flying out of the gaping wound. I ran down the hallway and followed after the figure I'd seen earlier. My reasoning behind this was that zombies can't feel pain, and the figure was obviously clutching its arm in pain. So obviously, it can't be a zombie! So I ran down the hallway and turned right, seeing a door. I cautiously creeped up to it and rested my hand on the knob, turning it slowly.

I opened it a crack and peeked my head through. I was immediately gripped by fear at the sight of a man on the ground in front of me, with a gaping wound on his left arm, and a pistol in the hand of his right arm. And it was aiming at me. I was just about to raise my hands in surrender but the man suddenly dropped his hand down to his side. With the Pistol out of the way I could clearly see his face, and boy was I shocked. I'd recognize that face anywhere. We stared at each other a moment before he broke the silence by calling out in a hope-filled voice:

"Tanner?"

I swallowed audibly before responding in an equally hope-filled voice "T-Tayne?"

We stared for a few moments longer before I rushed forwards and embraced him with all my might. He immediately let out a yelp of pain and clutched his left arm. I looked down at it and remembered the wound on it.

"Oh my god, Tayne! You're hurt!" I exclaimed in panic.

He only grunted in pain, and nodded his head with clenched teeth.

I needed more answers, "Who did this to you?" I asked him.

I noticed his head beginning to droop, and his eyes fluttering closed. I knew that with a wound this severe he was at serious risk, so I did my best to keep him awake. I (not so gently) slapped him a couple of times, murmuring "Hey, come on Tayne. Don't fall asleep, or you might not wake up. Come on Tayne, stay with me." He immediately perked back up and his eyes shot back open.

I continued to interrogate him, "Tayne, I need an answer here. Who did this to you?"

He then looked me in the eyes. I could tell he was dead serious- that whatever would come out of his mouth next, was the completely legitimate truth. Which is why I was especially surprised when he responded simply with:

"Yawn."

I waited for more, but when I looked into his eyes, I could tell he was finished. I raised an eyebrow at him and said "I'm sorry Tayne, but I'm gonna need a little more than that."

He sighed and grabbed me by my shoulders, to help get his point across, I guess. He said with dead seriousness "Yawn is the name of the giant snake that you fight in Resident Evil 1 and Resident Evil Remake. He attacked me and his fang cut my arm open. He's a poisonous snake Tanner. He poisoned me, and now we're trapped in here!"

I was absolutely bewildered. What was Tayne saying? After calming him down I asked him what the fuck he was talking about.

He just looked at me and said "Tanner, I don't know why, but we're stuck in Resident Evil Remake."

My eyes widened to saucer size. Was he serious? Is he pulling my leg? Is this all some elaborate prank devised by Tayne and Atom to get me? These were all thoughts running through my head but as I looked in Tayne's eyes, I knew without a doubt that he was telling the irrefutable truth. _That explains why everything looks so familiar, _I thought.

"But how? How is this possible?" I asked with an awe-filled voice.

He smirked and replied "I don't know about you, but I touched Atom's new Game Cube, felt the worst pain I've ever felt in my life, and the next thing I knew I was in Yawn's lair. What about you?"

My eyes widened. "That's what happened to me too! I came over to your guys' house to hang because my parents invited yours over to hang with them. So I went into your room, noticed your weird-ass Game Cube was still on, and tried to turn it off. Next thing I know I feel like I'm getting ripped apart, then I woke up in a dining room."

Tayne nodded understandingly. "Was there a zombie in there?" He asked me.

"I think so, I couldn't see it, but I could definitely hear it," I replied.

He nodded again. "That's the room where you get the middle part of Moonlight Sonata," He explained. I nodded in comprehension.

Suddenly Tayne's eyes widened. He looked at me and started questioning me, "Tanner, there was a zombie in that dark ass hallway. What happened? Are you alright?" He started sounding frantic, so I was quick to reassure him.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm alright. I killed it before it could bite me."

Tayne looked at me funny. "You killed it? How?"

"I used my knife," I replied, brandishing my bloody knife. I quickly realized that it was still bloody and made a face of disgust before I brought it down to wipe it off on my shirt. But when I saw what I was wearing, I just about flipped out. I think Tayne realized it the same time I did because he asked me "What's up with the outfit Tanner?"

Looking down at myself I could see that I was indeed wearing a very strange ensemble. It was all black and kind of reminded me of a wetsuit, but cooler. And on the shoulder of the vest was a patch with a S.T.a.R.S logo on it. I had a vest wrapped around my torso with a flashlight attached to it.

Tayne's voice broke into my thoughts, "DUDE, I know where that's from! That's Leon Kennedy's outfit!" I proceeded to give him a WTF look before he rolled his eyes and clarified "Leon Kennedy from Resident Evil 4 wears that exact same ensemble of clothing later on in the game! That's Leon Kennedy's outfit you're wearing, Tanner!"

As I stared down at my new outfit I couldn't help but notice something. "Hey! Tayne, you've got a new outfit too!" I said, pointing at his military-like garb.

He sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I already noticed," he said, "it also came with these." As he finished he first pulled out his butterfly knife with a fancy flourish. He then sheathed it and raised his right hand up, showing me the gun he'd pointed at me earlier. My eyes widened in shock. He gave me an apologetic look and said "I'm sorry I pointed this at you earlier." I waved it off and replied "It's all good, it's perfectly understandable."

I looked back down at his gun. "What kind is it," I asked.

He raised it back to eye level and examined it. "I'd know this gun anywhere," he replied, "I recognized it the instant I saw it. This is a USP .45, it's a pistol chambered in .45 ACP rounds. I'm pretty sure that whatever put me here gave it to me to give me a legitimate fighting chance." I nodded understandingly before a thought occurred to me that made my eyes widen. _Do I have a gun too?! _I quickly searched my person and found a sheath for my knife on my left hip. I brought down my knife and tried to fit it in, finding that it's a perfect fit._ Well good, _I thought, _At least I have a place to put my knife now. _I then brought my eyes further downwards, only to find a holster attached to my left thigh. And in the holster, was a Pistol.

I wasn't nearly as gun savvy as Tayne and Atom were, so I carefully pulled it out and held it out to Tayne, asking him "Hey Tayne, what kind of gun is this?"

His eyes widened upon seeing it, and he immediately pulled it out of my hands and examined it. He nodded to himself and turned back to me, replying with "Okay, I know what this is. This is a pistol made by FN Herstal, the same company that made the P90. This gun is called the Five Seven, and it's named after its 5.7mm caliber chambering. That means that this pistol can only shoot 5.7mm bullets. I'm guessing you have this for the same reason I do." I was baffled as to why I suddenly had a gun in my possession, but then something occurred to me. "Does it have any rounds," I asked.

He looked back down to the pistol and looked it over. After a few moments he found the release lever and flicked it, pulling out the clip and looking inside. Sure enough, it was fully loaded. "Yeah, it's got a full clip of 15 rounds Tanner. And so does mine," he answered.

I nodded and gestured for Tayne to give the gun back to me. Tayne hesitated and asked "You ARE educated in gun safety, correct?"

I rolled my eyes and answered "YES, of course I am! My dad was very strict on that, now can I please have it back now?"

He still looked a little hesitant, but gave it back to me anyways. I slid the clip back home and re-holstered the gun while bringing my attention back towards the massive wound on Tayne's arm.

"How serious is that?" I asked him. He looked down at the wound and hissed. My guess is that our conversation had distracted him from the pain, and that bringing his attention to it made it come back. He looked at me and said "Weren't you listening? Yawn bit me! And he poisoned me; I can feel it spreading. If I don't get a shot from the Drug Room soon I'm going to die. The only problem is that the only door out of here is locked, and I don't have any way to open it!" Now if we weren't both so absorbed into the conversation we might have noticed the sound of the door unlocking, but as it were, we didn't notice.

I gripped Tayne by the shoulders and spoke in a tone that left no argument, "Tayne, listen to me. You can't panic like you're about to, because if you do, the poison will only spread through your body faster. You need to relax, but not too much or you might fall asleep. You need to find a happy medium." After waiting for him to calm down I continued "Okay, now don't think that way. You're gonna live through this. I'll find a way; I promise. You will live." And with that I quickly tried to think of a way that Tayne's life could be saved. _He can't die. He won't die! I won't let him! _It was at this point that the door on the opposite side of the hallway opened and closed. Again, I was too into the situation to notice. And then I had a thought, a thought which I spoke aloud, "Hey Tayne? If me and you ended up here from that Game Cube, do you think…" We then looked at each other. I could tell we were thinking the same thing; that Atom could have gotten stuck here too. I then saw movement out of the corner of my eye, which immediately caused me to shriek in fright and spin to face the intruder, but they ran out of sight before I could get a good look. _Well zombies don't run away, so it can't be a zombie,_ I reasoned, _I should still be careful though. _

I pulled out my pistol and was about to call out to the stranger, but before I could, a hauntingly familiar voice called out from his direction. He said:

"It's okay! Everything's alright! My name is Atom Fischer, I'm a member of S.T.a.R.S. Alpha Team. I'm here with the rest of my team to investigate this mansion. Are you, by any chance, Rebecca Chambers?"

I'd recognize that voice anywhere. A look at Tayne's face confirmed that he knew who it was too. _I have to be sure, _I thought. So I called out with a trembling voice, "Atom?"

I could hear their breath hitch, and the next thing I knew he had ran around the corner and stopped in front of me. Short brown hair, dark brown eyes, round boyish face, I knew for sure that this was Atom Hughes.

**AN: **HOLY MOTHER HUMPER that was long! That was BY FAR my longest chapter yet, and boy was it a bitch to write! I think it fell together really well, and I like to think that this is my best chapter so far. Please tell me if I fucked it up in any way in a review. Thanks for reading, and until next time, PEACE!


	10. Chapter 9: Partners

Surviving: Resident Evil Remake

**AN: **What's up y'all? I'll be honest, I was kind of sad about my most recent chapter. I worked harder on that chapter than any other chapter so far and I didn't get a single review, fav, or follow. Sad face. So yeah, anyways, new chapter! Yay! This one's going back to my POV, and it's probably going to stay that way.

_Italics: _My Thoughts

"Quotes:" Speaking Aloud

**Bold: **Author's Note

'Apostrophe:' Inscriptions and Writing

Chapter 9: Partners

I stood there for several moments, trying to make sense of what I was seeing. _If my eyes aren't playing tricks on me then my cousin Tanner Trackman and my brother Tayne Fischer are sitting in the spots that Richard and Rebecca are supposed to be. _I brought my hands up and rubbed my eyes. I slowly opened my eyes back up, expecting it to have been a cruel trick, played on me by my own mind. But when I opened them I knew for sure that my mind wasn't playing tricks on me, and that Tanner and Tayne were sitting in front of me, staring up at me with looks of shock that I'm sure my face mirrored.

I took a slow, shuddering breath and asked "Tayne? T-Tanner? I-… Is that you?" They looked at each other, sending some sort of unspoken message with their eyes. They looked back at me and nodded. Tayne was the first to speak, "Yeah Atom," and Tanner was second, "it's us."

I had closed the distance and wrapped my arms around both of them in less than a second. I couldn't help but weep; the events of the night catching up with me. They automatically reciprocated, making it into a group hug. I couldn't believe it; after however many hours of scooting around this nightmare all by myself I'd inexplicably found my two best friends. You probably have no idea how I felt at that moment- just seeing someone familiar and close to me was a huge comfort. At that moment I felt like all the stress melted out of my shoulders and all was right in the world; like I was back home, rather than fighting for my life in a zombie-filled mansion.

But alas, the feelings had to go away sometime. I slowly stopped my weeping and pulled away, them doing the same. I was the first to break the silence, "I can't believe you guys are here! You have no idea how happy I am to see you guys."

"Yeah, same here Atom," Tayne replied.

"Atom, what the hell is going on here? Why are we here," Tanner questioned.

I took a deep breath, ready to give a long explanation, and began "Okay, first I need to know something. Where do you guys think you are?"

They looked at each other for a second, and turned back to me. Tayne spoke "No, we don't think we know where we are, alright? We know where we are." He said resolutely.

I nodded and asked "Okay, and where's that?"

He looked at me and said "Resident Evil."

I nodded. "Yeah, you're right. This is definitely Resident Evil Remake. And as for why we're here, I don't have any fucking idea. A better question would be 'how are we here?' Well, what was the last thing you guys remember doing?"

Tanner was the first to share his tale, "Well, I had just come over to your guys' house to hang. Then I went into your room and found your new Game Cube, and it was still running. So I followed the instructions on the top to try to turn it off, and the next thing I know I feel like I'm getting torn apart. Then I woke up in a dark room, back through that door," he gestured to the door behind him and Tayne at this point, "went through the hallway, and then went in here and found Tayne. We talked for about five minutes before you showed up. And that's about it."

I then looked at Tayne. He took the hint and started his story, "My story isn't all that different. I tried to turn off the Game Cube after I got home from work and passed out. I woke up in Yawn's lair, ran out, and then ran in here. The door was locked so I just sat down to catch my breath, then Tanner showed up. And like he said, we talked for a bit before you came in."

I nodded my head and spoke "Okay, that about sums it up. So it was DEFINITELY the weird Game Cube that brought us here," I'd then noticed something in particular that Tayne had mentioned in his story. My eyes widened and I looked at Tayne, asking incredulously "You were in YAWN'S LAIR?!"

"Uh-huh," he replied, "and he gave me this." He then gestured to a gash on his left arm, which I hadn't even noticed before. I instantly panicked and crouched down next to him, gently taking his arm in my hands and examining it. "Oh my god Tayne," I shouted, "yawn BIT you?! You do know what this means right?" I looked at his face seriously. He looked back and nodded. He then replied "I couldn't get it myself because the door was locked. And I don't think I could get it now; I can barely stay awake now." He looked me in the eyes. "Atom… I… I don't think I'm gonna make it."

My eyes widened, and I grabbed him by the shoulders, saying fiercely "NO! Tayne, don't say that. If Richard could make it through this, then why can't you?"

He shook his head, sighing. "I'm not a soldier like he was Atom. I don't think I can make it until you get back. I'm sorry-"

I cut him off. "Tayne, STOP IT! I'm going to help you, one way or another!" I thought for a minute. I needed to get Tayne a vial of Serum from the Drug Room. In the game, when Richard needs Serum, you're supposed to go back to the Drug Room, get a vial, and bring it back. But if what Tayne's saying is true then I won't be able to bring it back in time! I had only one option.

I turned to Tanner and noticed a pistol strapped to his hip. "Tanner, I don't really expect to fight anything on the way, but do you know how to use that?"

He looked down at what I was referring to. He realized that I was talking about the Five-Seven and replied "What, my Five-Seven? Yeah, kind of. I mean, Tayne gave me a crash course on it."

I nodded and continued, "Okay good. I need you to cover me and Tayne just in case we run into any zombies on the way. Can you do that?"

He nodded in determination, "Yeah, I think I can. But Atom, I don't think Tayne's in any shape to be walking."

I shook my head. "I know that Tanner, that's why he's not going to." Before he could ask what I meant I walked up to Tayne and held out my hand. "Take my hand Tayne," I said. He took it without hesitation, and I leaned down and pulled on his arm at the same time. I carefully lifted him up and draped him over my shoulders, grunting out my exertion all the while. When he was secure on my shoulders I spoke to him "Sorry Tayne, I know it probably hurts, but I need you to bear through it for now." I turned to Tanner, "I'd have you carry him Tanner, but I don't think you'd be able to." He nodded in understanding. Tanner is really scrawny and small compared to me and Tayne, and not as strong either. But he makes up for it with his limberness, agility, and speed.

I focused back on the task at hand, "Okay. Tanner, stay a few feet in front of me. If you see any sort of threat then tell me, I'll put Tayne down and help you take care of it. You hear that Tayne?" He mumbled an affirmative. "Good. Tanner, I'll call out directions to you as we go. Ready?" He nodded an affirmative. "Ready Tayne," I asked Tayne. I felt him nod against my back. I could feel him fading; I needed to hurry! "Alright, let's move!" Tanner quickly ran ahead of me in the direction that we came from. He opened the door and ran out of it. I was quick to follow behind, Tayne slung over my shoulders.

Tanner turned to me and asked "Which way?" I gestured to the left and we ran down the short hallway. Tanner once again opened the door for me and we ran through. I could see Tanner slow down to admire the Main Hall, so I barked out "Tanner! We'll have time to admire the scenery later! But we need to get Tayne to the Drug Room NOW!" This easily snapped him out of his observations and he picked up the pace, me following close behind.

"Tanner, head straight and go through the double doors on the other side," I called out to him. He replied "Got it!" and followed my directions. We ran through the double doors and into the second floor Dining Room.

"Head around the banister to the right and go through the second door on the right," I shouted to Tanner. He wordlessly followed my instructions. We ran around to the right and ran through the indicated door, into the West Stairway.

"Okay, hop over the banisters, and then go down the stairs and behind them. Go into the first door you see, alright?" He called back an affirmative and ran. I followed close behind. We vaulted over the banister and down the stairs. We then ran behind the stairs and through the door.

I ran through as Tanner held the door open, and strode over to the bed, calling out to Tanner as I went. "Tanner, go over to that Drug Cabinet and get a brown bottle that says 'Serum' on it." I didn't bother checking to see if he'd heard me as I carefully laid Tayne down on the clean bed in the corner. Tanner quickly ran over with the indicated bottle and gave it to me. "Okay, I need you to keep pressure on the wound while I administer the antidote, alright?" He nodded at me. Now keep in mind that I only had a small idea of what to do, so I was just winging it here. I took the bottle and went to inject it, then realized that I didn't have anything to inject it with. "Tanner, look and see if you can find any syringes in the cabinet alright?" I heard him stride away and start rummaging through the drawers. I brought my hands up and clutched Tayne's shoulders, speaking to him "Tayne, I need you to stay awake for a little longer alright? Tayne, can you do that for me?" He weakly nodded his head. "Just try to stay still and you'll be cured in no time." I turned towards Tanner's direction, "Tanner, any luck?"

"I got it!" He cried as he ran back and handed me a syringe. "I also found this," he continued as he handed me a bag of cotton balls and a bottle of rubbing alcohol. I nodded gratefully and took them, setting beside the bed. I opened the bag of cotton balls while unscrewing the cap off the rubbing alcohol at the same time. I took one of the cotton balls and dowsed it in rubbing alcohol. I then brought it to the syringe and disinfected it. I took the bottle of Serum and screwed the cap off. There was a layer of thin plastic underneath. I then took another cotton ball, dowsed it, and wiped off the plastic on the bottle. I stuck the syringe through the plastic and suctioned out some of the Serum. I then took yet another cotton ball, disinfected it, and wiped off a spot on Tayne's right arm. I found a vein on his arm, lined it up, and stuck the syringe into his vein. I then slowly injected the serum directly into his blood vein. I took another cotton ball, disinfected it, and put it on the injection point to prevent bleeding. I held it there as I called out "Tanner, can you get me some bandages?" He walked to the cabinet and almost immediately came back holding bandages. "I saw them while I was looking for the syringe," he explained.

I took the bandages and wrapped them around Tayne's arm, keeping the cotton ball in place to keep it from bleeding. I finished wrapping and moved on to the wound on his left arm. "Tayne, I'm warning you now, this is really going to hurt, so brace yourself." He clenched his eyes and stuck his shirt sleeve in his mouth to give himself something to bite. I then took the bottle of alcohol and poured it over Tayne's gash, completely covering the whole thing. He immediately started writhing and hissing in pain. I tried to hold him down but he was in too much pain! "Tanner, help me!" I called out. Tanner immediately helped me in restraining Tayne. "Tayne, you need to stop moving! You're just going to hurt yourself!" I said to him. Luckily he appeared to have heard me as he slowly calmed down and let out a groan of pain. "I'm sorry Tayne, but it needed to be done." His breathing returned to normal and he nodded his head.

"Yeah, I know," he said. My eyes widened. "You're talking again, that's a good sign; it means the Antidote's working. Can you stand?" I asked.

"Yeah, I think so," he said, and the he slowly rose to a sitting position. I put his arm over my shoulders to support him as he stood, then slowly backed away once he was standing. He teetered for a moment before finding his balance. He then sat back down and heaved a great sigh. He looked up at us and smiled, "Thanks guys. You saved my life; I don't think I'll ever be able to repay you for that."

Me and Tanner looked at each other and smiled. I replied "Don't mention it man, you would have done the same for me."

He shook his head and said "Still… Thanks."

I smiled back at him. "No problem," I replied. "Now hold still," I said as I sat next to him and brought the bandages to his arm. I carefully wrapped his gash with the bandages. Once finished I stood back and examined my handiwork. I nodded in approval and strode over to the desk with the Typewriter on it. I turned back to Tayne and Tanner and spoke while gesturing to the room, "Well guys, welcome to the Spencer's Mansion Drug Room!" At this Tayne and Tanner looked around the room. Tanner spoke up, "It looks exactly like it did in the game, Item Box and all!"

I then remembered a certain pistol magazine I'd found in the East Stairway Safe Room. "Hey Tayne," I said to him, "I couldn't help but notice Tanner has a Five-Seven. Do you have a gun on you?"

He thought and then nodded "Yeah, I have this," he spoke, pulling a USP .45 out of a holster on his right hip. I nodded in understanding before walking over to the Item Box in the corner of the room. I reached in and pulled out the box that read 'USP. 45 clip' on it and extracted the clip before walking to Tayne with it. "Tayne, I found this in the East Stairway Safe Room," I told him, handing him the clip. He stared down at it, wide-eyed, before looking down at his outfit. "Where should I put it?" He asked. I looked at his belt and replied "Well, I store my stuff in the eight pouches on my belt. You should use yours too. Hey wait a minute… Isn't that the outfit Chris is wearing in RE6?"

I stared wide eyed at Tayne's outfit as he put the magazine in one of his pouches. He was wearing Chris Redfield's long-sleeved military outfit from Resident Evil six! _And come to think of it… _I looked over at Tanner's outfit. "Tanner, that's Leon's outfit from RE4!" They rolled their eyes and Tanner replied "Yeah yeah, we know." At which point Tayne's eyes widened and he said "hey wait, you're wearing Piers' outfit!" I rolled my eyes and replied "Yeah yeah, I know." He just stood there for a few seconds, examining the whole thing. His eyes narrowed when he got to my neck, and he asked "Hey Atom, where's the bandanna?" I laughed and replied "It's a long story." He just nodded and decided to ask later.

"So Atom, how far have you gotten? In the game, I mean." Tayne asked me. I could see Tanner focus on me; clearly he was just a curious as Tayne was. I sighed and replied "Well, I'd just gotten the Helmet Key before I went and found you guys. So my next step is to go and find the four Death Masks."

Tayne smiled and said "Don't you mean 'us?'"

I gave him a look and asked, "Wait, you guys are coming with me?"

Tanner was the one who gave me a look this time. He asked "Why would we want to stay here?"

I felt pretty stupid right then. "I don't know," I struggled, "because it's safe in here?"

Tanner and Tayne busted into laughter at that point. "Atom, you're my brother-" Tanner cut in, "and you're my favorite cousin!" Tayne continued, "Yeah, and I'll be damned if I'm going to let you go out there alone." "Me neither!" Tanner added. I was truly touched by their words. They were willing to go through this with me? "Thanks guys, I… I don't know what to say." Tayne smiled and replied "You don't need words. Just make your face more like this!" He then made the goofiest face ever, to which Tanner and I broke out into side-splitting laughter.

After we calmed down I remembered a crucial detail. My eyes widened and I turned back to the guys and spoke, "Hey guys, I almost forgot to mention something. You know how usually in fan fictions the SI gets inserted into the plot seamlessly?" They looked confused, but nodded their heads anyway. "Well this isn't the case here. For some reason I replaced Jill Valentine." Their eyes widened. Tayne sat up straighter and spoke up, "Whoa whoa whoa there, back up a bit. What do you mean?" I sighed and replied "I mean that for whatever reason, Jill Valentine doesn't exist here, and instead, I do. I've taken her place in the storyline." Their eyes widened further, if that was even possible. "Seriously," Tanner asked incredulously. "Yep," I replied with a nod. "In fact, I'm pretty sure that you guys replaced Rebecca Chambers and Richard Aikens." Tanner's mouth dropped open in shock while Tayne nodded understandingly. "I take it you've already made this connection," I asked Tayne. He nodded. Tanner looked back and forth from me and Tayne for a few moments before finally speaking "Wait, so if we replaced Richard and Rebecca, then which ones are we?"

I thought for a moment before I said "Well, it stands to reason that you," I gestured to Tayne, "are Richard since you got hurt by Yawn, which would make you," I gestured to Tanner, "Rebecca." They sat there for a few moments, taking the time to absorb this. Finally, Tanner breathed out a sigh and said "Wow, that changes a lot. Too bad I don't have Rebecca's medical experience." I gave a short laugh, "Yeah, no kidding," I said.

Tayne then gave a gasp of fright. I looked over at him and saw that his eyes were open wide in terror. Before I could look and see what had him so spooked he spoke up, "Atom, if I'm Richard, does that mean that I'm going to…" It seemed he couldn't finish his sentence because he was too terrified of the prospect. Luckily I was quick to catch on, and my eyes widened too. I was quick to placate him, "No Tayne, it doesn't. I promise that I won't let that happen to you, alright?" He looked skeptical for a moment before he nodded his head and replied "Alright, I believe you. But I need to know- what do I need to do to avoid my death?"

I thought for a moment before replying "Well, since we're currently going through Jill's campaign you need to worry about getting swallowed alive by Yawn." Tayne visibly shuddered, and I reassured him, "Don't worry; as long as we remember to keep firing at him when he plays dead, and BY ALL MEANS not fall for it, then you should be fine. And if he strikes at any of us, we need to remember to dodge out of the way. If we can remember this then we should be golden. But even then, that's a while away. Let's cross that bridge when we get to it alright?"

"Alright," Tayne replied.

"Got it," Tanner said.

"Good," I said, "now, we've got four masks to choose from; where should we go next?"

They appeared to think for a few moments before Tayne replied "I don't know."

I turned to Tanner and asked him, to which he replied "I have no idea, I don't know the game nearly as good as you do."

I nodded and gestured for them to follow me. They stood up and followed me over to the Item Box where I pulled out both of my maps and set the down side by side. "Okay, we're here," I pointed at the Drug Room on the first floor, "We need to get the Death Masks from these rooms here," I pointed at four different rooms in the mansion. "Which one should we get first?"

They scanned over the map before Tayne announced "I think we should go for this one," he pointed at the one in the garden, then turned to me, "Did you get the herbicide from the outside area?" He asked.

I nodded and said "Yeah." He nodded back and continued "Okay, I think we should get that one since it's the closest one to us. Atom, will we encounter any opposition on the way?" He asked, turning to me again. I gave him a funny look and replied "Wow, I don't think you could have sounded any more tactical just then even if you tried." He rolled his eyes while Tanner cracked up next to us. "Yeah haha, anyways, will we?" I got serious and answered "We won't on the way there, but we'll have to fight two zombies on the way back." They immediately tensed up. "Guys," I began, "I know it's hard, and I know it's scary. But in order to survive this mess it's something we need to do, alright? So if we're going to be able to take down any zombies in our way I need to know that you guys won't lock up in fear. Can I count on you guys?" I could see them visibly steel themselves before they looked at me with determination and nodded.

"Great," I said, "so have you guys had any experience against them yet?" Tanner was quick to reply "Yeah, I killed one earlier; stabbed it in the head." I nodded in approval. "Nice," I said. Tanner gave a short laugh and said "Thanks." I nodded and said "Oh, and one more thing. I need to get two more Old Keys. One for the Wind Crest, and one for the Broken Shotgun. So on the way back we're going to go into the bedroom, where there are two more zombies." Tayne gave me a funny look and questioned "Wait, Old Keys? I thought this was Jill's campaign."

I rolled my eyes and replied "Tayne, I think you know as well as I do that I don't have any sort of lock picking experience." He rubbed his neck and sheepishly replied "Oh yeah, right."

I smiled and said "Alright, if we're going to take down the plant, we're going to need someone to carry the Herbicide. Tanner, no offense, but I have more experience at shooting than you do, so will you carry the bag of Herbicide?" He thought for a minute and replied "Alright, where is it?" I hastily took the maps off the Item Box, rolled them up, put them away, and opened the Item Box. Tayne and Tanner gathered around and looked down into the Item Box. "Huh," Tayne said in wonder, "So that's what the inside of an Item Box looks like. Interesting…" I gave a chuckle as I reached in and pulled open the box that read 'Herbicide.' I pulled the bag out and handed it to Tanner, who took it and held it with both hands. "If we get attacked, which is very unlikely, put the bag down and help us, alright?" I told Tanner, who nodded.

"Oh, and before we leave, you guys need some more supplies. Hold on a sec…" I trailed off as I went over to the Item Box. I opened it and fished out my previously made Green+Green herb combo, a Red Herb, and a Green Herb. I gave the baggie of Herb powder to Tayne, who looked at it weird. "What's this?" He asked. "That's a mixture of two Green Herbs," I replied. His eyes widened in surprise and he gazed back down at the bag, examining it more closely. "Wow," he exclaimed, "how'd you do that?"

"I found an instructional pamphlet back in the study. It showed me how to do it. Now if you give me a minute, I'll show you guys." And with that I took the Red and Green Herbs and set them on top of the Item Box. I did the same thing as before; picked the leaves, ground them into powder, mixed them, and stored the powder into another bag. I turned to the guys and said "Alright, if you get wounded, press the contents of these bags into the wound until there's no more powder left. Here you go," I said as I gave the Red + Green mixture to Tanner, who stored it into one of his pouches. "Alright, a few more things: If you get grabbed, use your knives. If you run out of ammo say so; I'll let you use my M14," I gestured to my M14 over my back. Tayne's eyes widened. "Whoa," he said, "I didn't even notice that! Where'd you get it?" I rolled my eyes and said "I'll tell you later, but for now, check this out," I said as I pulled out my Samurai Edge. Both of their mouths dropped open in shock. "Atom, is that…" He was too awed to continue. I replied "Yep, this here was a gift from Barry Burton himself." Tayne perked up at this. "Wait," he said, "so you met Barry Burton?"

I grinned. "Yep. I also met Chris Redfield, Joseph Frost, Brad Vickers, and the ever infamous Albert Wesker."

Tanner shook his head in disbelief. "Wow, I hope I get to meet them later!"

I grinned again. "Don't worry, I'm sure you will." I thought for a moment longer before deciding "Alright, I think that covers everything for now. Are you guys ready to head out?" They both gave an affirmative. "Good," I said, "then let's go. I'll lead." And with that I turned around and walked out the door, my two new comrades following behind.


	11. Chapter 10: Trial by Fire

Surviving: Resident Evil Remake

**AN: **AUGH! I'm sorry it took me so long to get this out. But believe it or not, I have a good reason! A friend of mine needed a place to stay for a little while, so I've been taking the last couple of weeks off to help him get settled in. So yeah, sorry for the wait, please enjoy this chapter!

PS: It would really help me out if you guys would leave me some feedback in the form of a review, so please give me your honest opinion at your convenience. Thank you so much!

_Italics: _My Thoughts

"Quotes:" Speaking Aloud

**Bold**: Author's Note

'Apostrophe:' Inscriptions and writing

Chapter 10: Trial by Fire

I walked out the door under the stairs, Tayne and Tanner following closely behind. I took a glance back at my new compatriots and noticed their guns were still holstered.

"Guys," I said to them, which made their attention immediately focus on me. "Keep your guns out." They immediately pulled their guns out of their holsters.

"Yeah," I continued, "I've relaxed in spots I thought were safe only to get attacked immediately afterwards too many times so far. I don't know why, but there are some things in this place that are different. Whether it's encounters, or items that I've found, I've found a lot of differences between this and the game so far. So unless we're in a safe room, don't relax for a minute, understood?" They nodded their heads in affirmation. "Good, now let's continue," I said as I started walking again, my brother and cousin following closely behind, guns drawn.

We took a right from the door we came out of, then another right around the corner. It led into a hallway with a wooden pillar in the middle and paintings on both walls. We walked in a single-file line all the way down it and around the pillar, to the end of the hall. At the end, it turned to the right into another hallway with a door at the end, and another door on the wall to the right, both of which were all the way at the end. There were two windows on the wall to the left, side by side. We walked down the hall to the door at the end.

Tanner looked at the door on the right wall and asked "What's through this door?"

I looked at the door he was pointing at and thought, before replying "In the game there's a battery for Jill's Stun Gun, an Ink Ribbon, a kerosene jug, and the Broken Shotgun. But I can't be certain what we'll find now. The Broken Shotgun's probably still in there, but I can't be certain about all the other items."

Tanner nodded in affirmation and focused his attention back on the locked door, as we all did. Tayne reached out and tried to open it, but of course, it was locked. He immediately looked under the knob and saw the Armor Breast plate engraving. "Atom," he said whilst turning to me, "would you mind?"

I grinned and replied "Not at all." I stepped forward while fishing through my pouches in search of the key. I found it and brought it up to the key hole.

But before I could unlock it Tayne spoke up, "Wait Atom, can I look at it real quick?"

I looked back at him and asked "What, the Armor Key?"

"Yeah," he replied, "This is all really trippy. I just want to soak up all I can, you know?"

I nodded. "I understand," I told him. And I did. I'd been feeling the exact same way the entire time I'd been in there. I'd been trapped in one of my favorite games of all time; obviously I'm going to want to examine all I can while I can, because for all I knew I wouldn't ever have an opportunity like this again! So with this in mind, I held out the Armor Key for Tayne to take.

He took it and held it up to eye level, twisting and turning it to see it from every angle.

"Wow," he said in awe, "It looks exactly the same as it did in the game!"

Tanner had leaned in to get a better look at this point. His eyes then widened and turned to me.

He asked me "Atom, you had to go through the death statue to get this right?" Tayne's attention turned from the key to me as well; obviously he was just as curious about this as Tanner was.

I looked both of them in the eye and replied "Yeah, I did."

Tanner immediately jumped on this, "Well, how terrifying was it?"

I deadpanned "Let's just say you should be glad you weren't there with me."

Tayne cringed, "That bad, eh," he asked.

"You have no idea," I replied. "Now then, may I," I asked, reaching for the key in Tayne's hand. He quickly handed it over, obviously still thinking about the death statue. I took it and brought it back down to the doorknob. I fitted the key into the lock and turned it, the unlock sound piercing the silence. Tayne gave a quick laugh, at which Tanner and I turned our heads towards him and looked at him with inquisitorial looks on our faces.

He got a sheepish look and explained "Sorry, sorry, it's just that the noise the door made when you unlocked it just now sounded exactly the same as it did in the game."

I smiled back at him as Tanner said "Actually I was thinking the exact same thing." He too had a shit-eating grin on his face.

I replied "Yeah, I noticed that the first time I unlocked a door." My smirk was firmly in place the entire time I was talking. I quickly wiped it off my face (not literally) and got serious. I said to Tayne and Tanner "Okay, listen up." They quickly sobered up and gave me their attention. "I haven't been in this room yet," I continued, "so I don't know for sure what I'm going to find on the other side. We need to be alert at all times; that means no talking until the room is clear. If you see any enemies don't hesitate to tell us by any means necessary, understand?" They both gave me an affirmative. "Good, then stack up," I finished.

Tayne and Tanner lined up behind me, ready to run through the door. I heard Tayne's hand clamp down on Tanner's shoulder, and felt Tanner's clamp down on mine. I wrapped my right hand around the door handle and held my pistol in my left. I leaned my head back towards Tayne and Tanner questioningly. I heard Tayne pat Tanner's shoulder twice in affirmation, and felt Tanner do the same to mine. I gave a quick nod and braced myself, before twisting the doorknob and opening the door. I quickly ran through, Tanner running in right after, followed closely by Tayne. In case you're wondering how we learned this maneuver, we learned it from Call of Duty: Black Ops. Which is a great game, you should play it if you haven't already.

I raked my eyes around the dark room in search of threats. I saw none, so I whispered back to Tayne and Tanner, "Clear." They nodded their heads.

We were in a series of connected hallways. There was no light except for the moonlight streaming through the few windows on the wall to the left, down the hallway in front of us. There was also a hallway to our right with a smaller one that branches off of it to the left about half way down. At the end of the hallway to our right was a door that led back to the dark hallway next to the Dining Room. Across from the entry to the smaller hallway was a door that I knew led to a bedroom. I'm not quite sure who's bedroom it is (it's been a while since I've read the diary inside,) but I do know that they're still in there. Waiting…

The hallway in front of us turned to the right at the end and had a door right around the corner, which I knew led to the garden. Aside from that there wasn't anything else of interest, except for the two windows down the hallway in front of us that were casting distinctly humanoid shadows on the wall across from it.

I turned back to Tayne and Tanner, both of them perking up as I did so. I pointed to Tayne, then to Tanner, and then jerked my pointing finger towards the hallway to our right. They nodded and walked down that hallway to check for hostiles while I walked straight ahead. I looked through the two windows as I walked by and sure enough, there were zombies on the outside of them. There were two; one for each window. They saw me as I walked by, at which point their efforts to get in doubled as they started moaning and snarling. They also raised their arms up and started knocking on the glass in a weak attempt to break it. I quickly walked by without taking my eyes off of them. I walked to the end of the hallway and turned the corner only to be met with a blank wall about five feet in front of me. I looked on the right wall and found a door. This was the door that led to the garden. I didn't dare open it out of fear that it would trigger the zombies to crash through the window. _Then again, _I thought, _George Trevor didn't need to be triggered to attack me, so why should these two? I need to stop thinking with triggers… _

Having finished my search of the area I looked back down the hallway I'd just come from and saw Tayne and Tanner back next to the door we came in from.

"It's clear over here, what about you," I shouted at them.

"Yeah, we're all clear," Tayne called back at me. I nodded in affirmative and began walking back towards them. But unfortunately the sound of our shouting only riled up the zombies outside even more, so just as I walked by the closest window to me they both broke inwards and the zombies fell through onto the ground next to me.

I realized that I was in danger of being shot by Tayne or Tanner so I hurriedly called out "Hold your fire!" I ran back towards them, jumping over the two zombies as I went. Just after I jumped over the second one they began to rise to their feet. They had reached their full height and started walking towards us around the same time I made it back to Tayne and Tanner, who had their guns at the ready, and had scared looks on their faces.

"Open fire," I said as I stood next to them and brought my gun to bear. My world immediately erupted into deafening gunfire as all three of us began firing on the two zombies walking down the hall at us. The first one went down in a matter of moments from the intense barrage of bullets raining down on it. The second one took a little longer since it was farther away, which caused Tayne and Tanner to miss a few shots. At least, I'm pretty sure it was them, because they hadn't gotten as much practice as I had so far. Eventually the last zombie went down, a blood puddle forming underneath it. I'd only expunged four bullets in total, leaving me with 36 bullets left.

"Alright, check ammo," I called out. I reloaded my pistol while Tayne did the same for his USP. Tanner didn't have any spare clips, so he couldn't reload his.

"How much ammo did you guys use," I asked them.

Tayne was the first to answer with "I used six shots."

Tanner thought for a second before answering "I think I used seven."

I nodded and said "Okay, that's not too bad. Tayne, you should be good for a little while, but we should find ammo for you sooner rather than later. Tanner, we need to find ammo for you VERY soon." Tanner nodded and said "Yeah, I've only got eight shots left."

I nodded and looked back at the bodies in front of us, speaking "Alright, as much as I hate to make you guys do this, you need to get a feel for it as soon as possible. Follow me." I walked up to the closest body to us, stopping next to its head.

"Tayne, you're up first," I spoke to Tayne.

He looked at me suspiciously and asked "Um, first for what, exactly?"

I gave him a serious look and replied "I'm going to show you how to curb stomp a zombie."

The reaction was instantaneous. He flinched away with a look of disgust and said "What?! No! Why would you even ask me to do that Atom?!" He didn't really shout, he just spoke forcefully.

Tanner spoke up then, "I've got to agree Atom, why would you want to teach us that?"

I sighed, expecting this reaction. I replied "Look, it's infinitely more efficient than running around in search of kerosene, alright? So what's it going to be guys? Are you going to learn how to smash a zombie's head in with your heel, or go on a wild goose chase around this whole building looking for kerosene so you can burn a zombie's body and potentially burn down the whole mansion?" I looked at them with a raised eyebrow as I finished.

They pondered over it for a few moments, so I gave them some more motivation, "And there's always the possibility that you don't make it back to the body in time and then you'll have to waste more ammo and possibly your life fighting a Crimson Head. I'll let you guys decide."

This seemed to make up their minds for them as they sighed and Tayne said "Alright, let's do it."

I gave a grim smile and replied "Alright, good. Stand right here." I moved aside and pointed at the spot that I had just occupied. Tayne hesitantly stepped up next to the zombie's head, a look of growing discomfort on his face. I noticed this and placed my hands on his shoulders, turning him towards me.

"Hey, look at me man," I said. He slowly raised his gaze to meet mine.

I continued "Look, I know that this sucks, and I know that this is hard to grasp. But like I said, if you want to live, and if you want us to live," I pointed at Tanner and I at this point, "you're going to have to do everything I say. And if anything I say is hard to accept, you need to either find a way to cope, or get used to it, fast, alright?"

He remained silent for a moment before slowly nodding and replying "Alright, I'll try. Thanks Atom." He gave me a smile, which I returned.

"Anytime man," I replied, "now do you think you're up for this?" I pointed to the bleeding zombie corpse on the ground. Tayne took a deep breath and nodded with a steel-like face.

I nodded back and said "Alright, what you're going to want to do is firmly plant your left foot behind you, like you're going to kick down a door."

I observed Tayne follow my instructions before continuing "Okay, then you'll want to bring your foot up as high as possible, then bring it down on the zombie's head as fast and as hard as you can, alright?" He absorbed the information, as did Tanner, before taking a deep breath and following my instructions. I watched as he swung his right boot up as high as he could before bringing it down with a shout right on top of the zombie's head. The zombie's head caved in with a CRUNCH-SPLAT, covering the surrounding wall, floor, and Tayne's boot in red. I could barely see Tayne shudder before steeling himself with another deep breath and step away from the body.

I looked at him, concerned. "You alright?" I asked.

He quickly looked up and nodded, replying "Yeah, yeah, I'm good. A little disgusted, but I'll manage."

I nodded and turned to Tanner "Alright Tanner, you ready?" He looked visibly shell-shocked, but nodded nonetheless and walked with me over to the next zombie.

Once he was in place I spoke up "I'm pretty sure I don't need to repeat those instructions, right?" I turned towards him to make sure. He nodded and took a deep breath. He planted his right foot before bringing his left up as high as he could, then bringing it back down with a grunt. I'll admit, I was wondering whether or not he'd be able to do it. He's a really scrawny kid; not the kind that you'd think would be that strong. But I'll also admit that I was impressed when the zombie's head popped with a CRUNCH-SPLAT. It was executed perfectly; just like how Tayne and I did it. I nodded with an impressed look on my face and said "Not bad." He smiled and said "Thanks," before taking a shuddering breath.

I noticed Tayne looking at his stained boot with a look of disgust. "Don't worry," I told him, "there's a water pump just up ahead." I pointed down the hall, towards the garden. He brightened noticeably and replied "Well what are we waiting for?" We all shared a laugh before moving down the hall as a group, gingerly stepping over the headless corpses. We moved all the way down the hall and came up to the door to the Garden.

"Stack up," I ordered. Tayne and Tanner formed a line behind me again; Tanner putting his hand on Tayne's shoulder and Tayne putting his on mine. I looked over my shoulder, to which Tanner patted Tayne's shoulder twice, and Tayne did the same to my shoulder. I gave a quick nod and wrenched toe door open. We filed in hastily.

I quickly looked at the whole room, gun at the ready. I didn't see any threats (aside from the obvious,) so I called out "Clear." I almost immediately heard a confirmation from Tayne and Tanner.

I slouched my shoulders and allowed myself to take the room in. It was a square room made into a garden with multiple flower beds set up in the middle of the room; a path going around and through them. I could see a fountain in the very middle of the flower bed. I also saw movement in the flower bed at the base of the fountain…

There was a water pump against the wall to my left. I could see two water lines going away from it. I followed one to the water fountain in the flower bed, and the other to a sprinkler system set up over a shelf full of herbs. My eyes bulged at the sight of the six herbs on the shelf.

"Yo guys," I said, pointing at the shelf. Their eyes widened as well when they saw the shelf full of herbs.

"Damn," Tayne whistled, "That'll last us for a while."

"Ditto," Tanner said, also staring at the Herb supply.

I grinned, amused at their reactions. "If you guys are practically drooling at that, wait until you see this." I then walked over to the beginning of the pathway that leads through the flower beds. The instant I stepped in between the flower beds a huge mass of tentacles sprung up from around the fountain in the center. I immediately leapt backwards, away from the deadly plant. I could see Tayne and Tanner flinch from surprise out of the corner of my eye. I grinned back at them, Tayne glaring at me all the while.

"Don't do that," he said angrily, "you don't know if that thing could reach you from here!"

I was quick to apologize, "Alright, alright, I'm sorry." I then turned to Tanner. "Tanner, give me the Herbicide." He handed it over. "Thanks, by the way, for carrying it."

He nodded and replied "No problem."

I lugged the heavy bag of Herbicide over to the water pump I mentioned earlier. There was an exposed water filter on the back of the machine. I set the bag in the water and watched it slowly sink into the water, making it turn a crimson red. I then looked at the front of the machine for any kind of switch and saw a simple 'ON/OFF' toggle. I flipped it in the 'ON' position. I then brought my attention to a lever on the front with two settings on it. One direction was colored green, the other red. If the lever was turned to the green side, then the herbicide would be sprayed on the Herbs, killing them in the process. If it was turned to the red side, it would kill the T-Virus plant. However; for all I know, it could have been switched around.

I decided I couldn't take any chances so I turned to Tayne and Tanner and said "We should get those Green Herbs safely into our inventories." I pointed to the Herbs on the shelf.

Rather than ask questions they simply nodded and did it. I was grateful for this; I was getting kind of sick of explaining everything…

I showed them how to take the Herbs out of the pots, and in no time we had split up the six herbs between the three of us; two each. That left me with two spaces left, Tanner with five, and Tayne with four.

Once we'd finished with that I walked back over to the water pump. I turned the lever in the red position and turned back towards the fountain. Sure enough, a stream of red water came streaming out of it, onto the infected plant. The plant's tentacles writhed and flailed madly for a few seconds before going still and slumping to the ground, dead. I let out a sigh of relief and turned back to the pump. I turned the power to the 'OFF' position. I don't believe in wasting water.

I cautiously crept down the path towards the opposite wall. I slowly walked by the dead plant, gun ready just in case it was a trap. Luckily the plant was genuinely dead, and I got by without a hitch. I walked to the wall on the side of the room opposite of where we came in. There was a two-way mirror on the wall, so I couldn't see through it. But I knew that the Golden Emblem was on the other side of it. There was a small metal grate on the wall underneath the mirror that had a mask fitted into an indentation on it. It was one of the Death Masks; the one without eyes to be specific. I took it out of the wall and stashed it away, leaving me with only one space left.

I turned back to the guys, smile planted firmly on my face. "Alrighty boys, we got what we came here for," I announced triumphantly. They grinned back and Tayne pumped his fist. I walked back down the path towards them.

I walked back to the door and called out "Our next stop is the bedroom with the Old Key. Stack up." They followed my lead and we formed the line once again. Once I received the double pat from Tayne I nodded and opened the door. I quickly ran through, followed closely by Tayne and Tanner.

**AN: **And DONE! Jeez, sorry it took me so long to get this done. Please let me know what you think; I tried to make the conversations between the three as believable as possible. So let me know whether I completely butchered it, or aced it. Thanks for reading!

By the way guys, I'm only 33 views away from a thousand! I'm so pumped! :D


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